Heading into the business world of tomorrow will involve one lesson after another, and the members of Moffat County High School’s FBLA chapter already have a considerable leg up.

Moffat County was well-represented during the Future Business Leaders of America National Leadership Conference in late June and early July in Orlando, Florida, with six of the Bulldogs competing in business-related topics.

Though none of the MCHS students went on to the final rounds, the sheer number of participants at this level was impressive, MCHS teacher Krista Schenck said.

Initially, junior Hannah Kilpatrick was the lone MoCo student in the program to move on from the state event in April, placing fourth in graphic design, with the top six qualifiers going to nationals. Kilpatrick also went to DECA nationals earlier this year.

However, juniors Aliza Johnson and Travis LeFevre each learned that because other higher-ranked competitors were unable to make the trip, they would be able to head to Orlando in the FBLA categories of business management and marketing, respectively.

Just before the registration deadline, the trio of Carson Laehr, Jonah Jenison and Wyatt Tucker also secured a spot in the broadcast journalism event.

“I would say that the pressure is less than it was for the state competition,” Laehr said. “Nationals is the biggest event, but we made it as far as we could.”

Recent graduate Caroline Schenck also went to FBLA nationals with the group as an adviser.

Johnson said the recent competition was tough but beneficial as a more intense challenge in the form of a written test.

“My test was all about business management styles, accounting and problem-solving in the workplace,” she said.

As a vice president of FBLA in the past school year, Johnson is setting her sights on being DECA president in the fall.

“I definitely learned to take a bit more initiative when it comes to group settings,” she said. “I can use my learned skills to be a good leader and take charge when it comes to incoming members and help them feel welcome in the team.”

Johnson said she plans to get a business degree in college, likely at University of Northern Colorado, and FBLA has been crucial for her building toward that goal.

“I’m usually given a problem such as helicoptering management under me or employees not following through on tasks, or something like that. Then I have to come up with ideas to advise the company to fix that,” she said. “I already felt fairly confident in my public speaking skills, but I didn’t exactly know how to portray myself in the right way for starting a presentation. That’s really helped me in finding the right way to present yourself.”

LeFevre, who is also going into his senior year, noted that the first year of getting involved in FBLA events after already being part of the DECA team helped him think differently.

“FBLA had a lot larger range of events, and it’s not so focused on certain aspects like DECA is,” he said. “DECA is almost all role-play, not so much prepared presentation events like we do for FBLA. The prep time is different, so it affects the quality of your presentation.”

In his case, he learned a lot of new things from the FBLA marketing.

“You can use it for speaking skills, it gives you confidence, helps you later in life be able to come up with a plan quickly,” LeFevre said. “(FBLA and DECA) are both fun, so I couldn’t say if one is better — they’re just different.”

Laehr, who graduated from MCHS in May, said that while broadcast journalism is not something he plans to pursue as a job — he’ll attend Colorado School of Mines and major in mechanical engineering with a focus on aerospace engineering — the unique experience he got was invaluable.

“I think that DECA and FBLA have both helped prepare for a career and adult life in a lot of ways, in being able to get everyone to think critically in a short amount of time to solve a problem and in being able to meet so many like-minded people,” he said. “One of the things I’ll always remember is the amount of little conversations I’ve had with strangers who I would have never met otherwise. It has definitely been a great experience to meet so many people. When I joined I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I joined because I had some friends who were in the clubs, but it was a lot more fun than I originally anticipated it being.”