Middle Park High School’s Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) student organization recently attended this year’s FBLA District Competition in Longmont on Feb. 8. Middle Park sent 16 students down to the Front Range for the competition and all 16 students qualified to compete in the State Competition, scheduled for April 14-16 in Vail.

Middle Park students Brooke Bowman, Carlie Bugos, Mallory Milstead, Henry Hoyhtya, Mark Knight and Alex Law all competed in the Business Plan event. The event required teams of three students to prepare a 30-page business plan that they presented to a panel of judges. The students were divided into two separate teams, one for boys and one for girls.

The Job Interview event saw Middle Park student Georga Feek competing. The event requires students fill out a job application and conduct a hypothetical interview for a generic business position. The competition is judged on cover letters, resumes and a 15-minute interview.

The Hospitality Management event saw two MPHS students competing on a single team. Michael Barker and Mitch Cunico competed in the event which consisted of role-playing scenarios from within the hospitality management industry.

Douglas Dean and Tyler Wengert competed together as a team in the Community Service Project event. The Community Service Project is a team event in which students build a community service project and write a report regarding the project and its impacts on the community.

The Public Service Announcement team event featured Kadin Cathey and Alyssa Landa as competitors from Middle Park. The event requires students develop their own PSA on a specific topic and then present their PSA along with a breakdown of how they developed the plan.

The Graphic Design event is held as both and team and individual event in FBLA. Grand County student Braden Lawson competed in the event which requires students to build a company identity for a new hypothetical catering company. Student competitors were required to develop log identification, floor plans, menus and more.

According to Bright all students from Middle Park placed in the top three at Districts in the respective events with some MPHS students taking first place. Middle Park students taking first in their event were: Brooke Bowman, Carlie Bugos and Mallory Milstead in Business Plan; Braden Lawson in Graphic Design; and Georga Feek in Job Interview.

“The students who participate in FBLA have not only achieved tremendous success at the district level, but have become leaders within the school and community,” stated Bright. “I look forward to working with them in preparation of state competition, as well as nationals, which takes place in June.”

Bright explained the Middle Park FBLA organization was re-chartered in 2015 following a long hiatus of approximately 15 years. “For our first year competing, to have 100 percent of participants qualify for state is an amazing accomplishment,” Bright stated.