Student leaders shine in competition

Formed only in February of this year, the new Sisters High School Chapter of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) competitive team achieved tremendous success at the recent State Business and Leadership Conference earlier this month. They earned the privilege to represent the Sisters community and the State of Oregon at the National Leadership Conference in Nashville, this summer.

With their prior success at the regional level, the Sisters team advanced to face far tougher and more experienced competition at the state level. Two of the team members, Olivia Chandler and Tristan Lewis, competed in the Sports and Event Management category and won third place, thus allowing them the opportunity to compete at the national level.

For the competitive event, Chandler and Lewis were given a business problem and had only 20 minutes to come up with a strategic plan and set of actions to resolve the issue. They then had only seven minutes to present their plan to a panel of judges, who questioned their ideas and graded their responses.

The State Business Leadership Conference consisted of a variety of business-related testing, presentations, competitions, and leadership workshops and activities. In addition, the team toured several business operations, including the MODA Center (Rose Garden) and Macy's, and attended a Portland Trailblazer game.

The team thanked their sponsors - Bill Willitts, the Sisters School District, the City of Sisters, and their advisor Caprielle Foote-Lewis.

The team is excited to have achieved so much in such a short time, and recognize they would not have had this opportunity without community support. They now need to focus on fundraising and preparation to represent Oregon at the National Leadership Conference June 27-July 2.