A group of Elizabethton High School students who showcased their career technical education skills at state competitions are preparing to move to the next level — the national level.

Three EHS Future Business Leaders of America students — Kelsi McKamey, Kaelyn Bishop and Kunjal Patel — will travel to Illinois for the FBLA national competition later this summer. Taylor Gibson and John Tapp also qualified by placing at the state competition but chose not to participate in nationals.

McKamey won first place at state for electronic scrapbook and fourth place for electronic career portfolio. She was the state webmaster and the Region 7 president. She also received the Presidential Award of Excellence and ranked in the Tennessee FBLA Who’s Who.

“Being able to go to nationals as a senior makes me very proud of my accomplishments over the last four years,” McKamey said. “I have learned skills that I will carry with me through college.

Bishop won first place in job interview skills and in hardcopy scrapbook, and received the Gold Seal Chapter Award of Merit. Bishop’s first-place win in job interview skills was the first for the EHS FBLA at a state competition.

Bishop originally did the work on job interview skills for a scholarship, which she said she did not get.

“I am glad to see something positive came out of all that had work,” she said. “I worked with teachers and other people to practice and make sure I was doing everything right.”

Patel will be recognized at the national competition for earning the FBLA Outstanding Chapter Award. The recognition came as a surprise for Patel who thought she would be earning the award at state.

“It is good to be recognized for anything at nationals,” she said. “We found out at state that it would be at nationals, so that is pretty major.”

Gibson won first place for hardcopy scrapbook and second place for local chapter annual business report. The EHS FBLA always has a strong showing in scrapbook, Gibson said, which made the award for her business report more special to her.

“Winning second place for my business report was a pretty big deal to me,” she said. “I have never competed in anything but scrapbook so to place second made me proud.”

Tapp won fourth place for a test on agribusiness. Agribusiness is about the inspection of facilities like farms and other agriculture facility.

“It was very exciting,” Tapp said. “I didn’t expect to place so it made me more confident in my skills.”

FBLA advisor Robin McKamey was named the FBLA Tennessee Advisor of the Year.

Anna Day also participated at state in public speaking and Patel took part in the business presentation competition.