Five Ellensburg High School students are back from Texas after earning national recognition for their leadership and teamwork.
James Holiday, Dominic Scappini, Piper Douthwaite, Miley Porter and Anton Duong placed second in the nation in the Parliamentary Procedures category at the Future Business Leaders of America National Leadership Conference, held June 27 through July 3 in San Antonio.
The five students, under the guidance of advisor Marcy Matthews, who recently retired as the high school's business and marketing instructor, qualified for the national competition in April at the state conference in Spokane.
At the state competition, Holiday placed third in Journalism, while Scappini, Douthwaite, Porter and Doung took first place in Parliamentary Procedures.
“These were great achievements, as less than 10% of members journey all the way to the FBLA National Leadership Conference,” Matthews told the Daily Record.
Each student competed in individual events at nationals, but they especially shone as a team in Parliamentary Procedures.
For that event, each student completed a 100-question written test on Robert's Rules of Order and the FBLA bylaws.
“The EHS team was up at 5 a.m. anxiously awaiting to hear if their average score would place them in the Top 15,” Matthews recalled.
It did. The team celebrated with breakfast at IHOP before preparing for the second round of competition: a role-play meeting centered on spending money to attend nationals.
During the role play, the students had to correctly demonstrate a series of Robert's Rules of Order procedures to conduct an “efficient and effective meeting,” Matthews explained.
Specifically, they had to exhibit Main Motion, Amend a Motion, Rescind, Appeal and Recess.
“The Parliamentary Procedures team worked very hard and it paid off in the end,” Matthews said, lauding their passion, grit and tenacity.
The team earned $200 from the FBLA for its second-place finish.
In addition to attending the conference, the students had time to explore the historic city. Visits to the Alamo, Six Flags and a river cruise were among their adventures.
A highlight of the conference — other than winning, Matthews said — was trading state pins with students from around the country.
There was no contention, only camaraderie.
“The group was proud of a fellow Washington state FBLA member who ran and won a national officer position,” Matthews said.
Matthews said the entire high school is proud of the team's achievements, both individually and together.
“They represented Ellensburg well,” she said.
