By DAWN BONE / Community Columnist

Several Shelby County Students competed in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) state competition April 6-7 at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center. These competitive events reward excellence in a broad range of business and career-related areas.  Members compete in events that test their business knowledge and skills as well as their presentation skills. Over 2,700 students from all over Alabama competed in over 65 categories in this year’s event. The top four students/teams were recognized in each category.

In the middle school level, Carson Easterling, Avanish Thota and Khaled Zuaiter won the web page creation category. Students were assigned a topic prior to the event and had to submit a website that addressed the topic, was appropriate for the audience and had a variety of special effects that showed creativity and cohesiveness in the design.

In the high school level, Amanda Vick, a sophomore from Shelby County High School, won second place in Introduction to Business Communications and Miranda Bachelor, a freshman from Helena High School, won first place in Introduction to Financial Math.  Both of these students had to take a multiple choice objective test on the content areas in their respective categories.

Emily Stinson and Katie Scott Troy from Calera High School won first place in the Public Service Announcement competition with their presentation on drone safety. The students had to research current trends on drone safety and produce a video and presentation that talked about regulations for drones.

Katie Scott and Emily are no strangers to FBLA competition. Katie Scott is a sophomore, and placed last year at the state level in her team’s presentation of their community service project. Emily is a senior and has competed and placed all four years at FBLA State competition. Not only is she the only Calera High School graduate to accomplish this achievement, but she is the only Shelby County student Class of 2017 graduate to earn this honor.

These top winners in the state are eligible to compete for honors at the National Leadership Conference held in Anaheim, California, this summer.