Local students nab top awards in Business Competition

Franklin County students had the chance to show off their business skills Oct. 2 at Northwest-Shoals Community College’s inaugural high school business division competition.

Eleven students from Vina High School, Russellville High School and the Franklin County Career Technical Center placed in the top three positions for Bank Reconciliation, Electronic Spreadsheet, Financial Statements, Keyboarding, Payroll Accounting, PowerPoint and Résumé.

At VHS Elizabeth Baty placed second in Financial Statements. Jayla Puckett placed second in Keyboarding. For Payroll Accounting, Abby Hester placed second, and Mackenzie Lawler placed third. Carlan McNeil placed third in Bank Reconciliation.

Four RHS students earned first place recognition: Melissa Tomas for Electronic Spreadsheet, Amanda Otzoy for Financial Statements, Tanner James for Keyboarding and Emily Murray for Résumé.

“All of the 11 who signed up have participated in FBLA competitions before, so they were used to that atmosphere and were excited about it,” said RHS business education teacher Dr. AnnaKay Holland.

The Franklin County Career Technical Center almost maxed out the PowerPoint competition, with Dillon Borden coming in first place and Maria Estrada coming in second place.

“This was a good chance for us to get our feet wet. It’s good to compete,” said business marketing teacher Doris Holderby.