Ephrata High FBLA to compete nationally
R. HANS MILLER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 9 months AGO
The Ephrata High School Future Business Leaders of America team stops for a picture. The team has done very well this year and several students are headed to national competitions this weekend in Orlando, Florida.
COURTESY PHOTO/EPHRATA HIGH FBLA
Ephrata FBLA students accept awards onstage in Spokane earlier this year.
Managing Editor Rob Miller is a 4-year U.S. Army veteran who grew up in Western Montana in a community about the size of Soap Lake. An honors graduate of Texas State University, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Brandee, and their three dogs, Draco, Pepper and Cinnamon. He has one son, William. During his free time, he enjoys photography, video games, reading and working on the house he and his wife bought in Ephrata. He is passionate about the First Amendment and educating communities. | June 27, 2024 2:00 AM
EPHRATA — Several Tigers are headed to Florida. Not the four-legged kind, but the kind that have a fascination with professionalism and wander the halls of Ephrata High School. Ephrata High Future Business Leaders of America club advisor and EHS media teacher Ryan Shannon said he’s very proud of this year’s FBLA team.
“I think the biggest thing is that I’m just absolutely thrilled with the level of professionalism that not only the members that are going to nationals, but our entire membership group (in) FBLA has put forth,” he said. “They’ve presented themselves well, and they’ve represented Ephrata with class.”
Shannon said the group has worked hard all year and earned several honors at a state-level competition in April, with several top-ten placements in various categories of competition.
This weekend, the Tigers’ FBLA team will be in Orlando, Florida for the National Leadership Conference which includes competition in various categories. Shannon said he was proud that his students with fourth-place or better state showings had at the very least placed in the top 200 in their respective categories nationally.
“That’s a pretty impressive number,” he said.
Ephrata FBLA April placings:
Dorismar Ochoa Sanchez, senior
Business Calculations - 5th place
Securities and Investments - 2nd place (national qualifier)
Dayana Nolasco Gomez, junior
Computer Applications - 3rd place (national qualifier)
Word Processing - State Champion (national qualifier)
Bella Wallen, freshman
Introduction to Business Procedures - 10th place
Micah Sandberg, sophomore
Introduction to Information Technology - State Champion (national qualifier)
Landon Coe, junior
Personal Finance - 8th place (Will participate at nationals)
Dawson Davis, freshman
Personal Finance - 3rd place (national qualifier)
Regan Shannon, freshman
Business Law - 2nd place (national qualifier)
Introduction to FBLA - 3rd place (national qualifier)
Journalism - State Champion (national qualifier)
Landon Evenson, Brenden St. Mary & Lillian Diediker, all seniors
Broadcast Journalism - State Champion (national qualifier) (Note: Brenden will be unable to attend NLC due to a prior engagement with the Gates Foundation. He has been replaced on the team for nationals by Kaila Benavente, senior)
Zander Leasher, junior
Client Services - 10th place (will participate at nationals)
Ephrata FBLA students accept awards onstage in Spokane earlier this year.ARTICLES BY R. HANS MILLER
Moses Lake man convicted of multiple child sex abuse charges
MOSES LAKE — Billy Gene Pinson, 46, of Moses Lake has been sentenced to 35 years in prison after being convicted of multiple crimes associated with sexually abusing minors, according to a press release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which worked with the Moses Lake Police Department on the case.
Looking for an adventure?
Try having a little fun at Steamboat Rock State Park.
ELECTRIC CITY — Summer is just around the corner and there are a million and one things to do, but not all of the adventures you choose have to be expensive or far away.
Court cases in March 2025 shooting death of Moses Lake teen moving forward
EPHRATA — Jose D. Beltran Rodriguez, 21, of Moses Lake, and Matthew Gabriel Valdez, 19, also of Moses Lake, remain in custody at the Grant County jail after being arrested in connection with a March 21, 2025, drive-by shooting in Moses Lake.