The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON - Twenty five Future Business Leaders of America from Dayton High School competed against Southeast Washington's best at the Regional FBLA tournament held in Richland earlier this month. The team took home 12 first-place finishes and cleaned up on the rest.

About 200 students representing 12 schools squared off in the Southeast Region Winter Leadership Conference. Ten percent of Dayton's High School participates in the local chapter of FBLA. They have been a consistent powerhouse and a team worthy of respect every time they compete.

In addition to the firstplace finishes, Dayton brought home 12 second place finishes, 12 third-place finishes, seven fourth-place finishes and 10 fifth-place finishes.

Students Keisha Phillips, Nathaniel Steen, Clint Rickords, Malia Frame, Molly Payne, Patrick Trainor and Chandra Richardson all brought home first-place awards for individual events that included Business Procedures and Future Business Leader, Computer Applications, Cyber Security and Introduction to Technology Concepts, FBLA Principles and Procedures, Introduction to Parliamentary Procedure, Hospitality Management, Impromptu Speaking and Word Processing 1, respectively.

Patrick Trainor and Seth Jackson earned first-place awards for the team Banking and Financial Systems event. Jacob Weeden and Carter Currin earned first-place awards in team Management Information Systems event.

The remaining Dayton students earned nothing less than fifth place, and the team brought home a total of 53 awards. These students included Andre Fayette, Alex Naylor, Samantha Harding, Caitlyn Riley, Anita Jackson, Kale Sutherland, Marshall Nechodom, Kellie Wessles, Josh Frame, Adam Strobehn, Briana Fulbright, Kiara Biggar, and Carly Grimshaw.

The Dayton Team has been practicing since the third week of school. Advisor and coach Rob Moore is pleased with his team's performance and looks forward to the State Leadership Conference to be held in Spokane, April 7-9.