There’s been big news coming out of the White River High School FBLA.
Due to her involvement in the organization, White River High senior Morgan Wilson was recently awarded a scholarship from Johnson & Wales University totaling more than $92,000. The scholarship also includes funds for a semester of studying abroad. Johnson & Wales gives one such scholarship each year to a FBLA student leader.
During her four years at White River, Wilson has served as chapter president, a state vice-president and a national vice president. She has been flown to Washington, D.C., to met with the U.S. Secretary of Education about the value of career and technical education, and she has done the same in Olympia. She has also had the opportunity to travel across the state and the western United States to attend FBLA conferences, leading workshops for other students.
Olivia Phillips placed in two different events at the State Business Leadership Conference, qualifying for the FBLA National Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tenn. Phillips’ qualifying event, along with her teammates Wilson and Katie Siewert, is Emerging Business Issues. The team prepared to represent both sides of an issue, which is, “Should the auto industry have received or accepted bailout funds?” They learned what side of the issue they would represent 10 minutes before presenting to a panel of business professionals. The team placed first in the region and second in the state.
Phillips, a senior, plans to attend Gonzaga University. She has served as both chapter president and a state officer and shared many of the same experiences as Wilson.
Siewert is currently serving as the chapter president for White River FBLA. She was the first White River FBLA student to qualify for the FBLA National Leadership Conference four years ago as a freshman. Siewert has qualified a total of six times for the conference. This year, she qualified in three separate events. As a freshman, she took and passed the entrance exam for the National Association of Parliamentarians. At the recent FBLA State Business Leadership Conference, Siewert was awarded a $1,000 scholarship by the Washington Business Education Association.
