ROYAL CITY - Lindsey Christensen, Maria Garcia, and Gaby Sabalsa will head for San Antonio, Texas in June to represent the state of Washington in Business Ethics at the Future Business Leaders of America national conference.

This trio competed as a group in the Business Ethics event at the state conference in Seattle recently and kept Royal's remarkable winning streak going. This is one of the most competitive of all the events offered.

At its assigned time, the team reported to its designated area and was given an ethical dilemma. The girls then had 20 minutes to prepare their argument and seven minutes to make their presentation to a panel of judges.

"As the dust settled," advisor Pete Christensen said, "these young ladies, to their own surprise, were crowned the champions and now have the opportunity to represent Royal City and Washington State in San Antonio."

Royal High had 16 participants who competed in the various business-related tests and presentations at the state conference. There were more than 1,800 students in attendance vying for an opportunity to be one of the 150 individuals to represent their school and Washington State in Texas.

The state conference is divided into more than 70 competitive events. Each student must qualify for state in regional competitions earlier in the year.

The top five from each of the nine regions, regardless of school size, participate at the state level. In order for a student to advance to the national conference, they must finish in the top two from their event.

"This is the seventh year that we have competed at the FBLA conference and, in all but one year, we have qualified at least one individual to advance to the national conference," Christensen said.

"When we first started," he added, "many advisers from other schools, who have been doing this for years, came up to me and told me to enjoy our trip to nationals because they haven't had a group qualify in all the years they have been doing it.

"We have an excellent group of students in our school, and they have represented Royal City well, both in competitions and as outstanding young men and women. They are excellent representatives for our school, our community and their families. It is a pleasure to be allowed to work with each of them."