Technological prowess from two Elizabethton High School students will be displayed on a national stage in the coming months.

During the recent Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) state competition, EHS senior Bre Little and sophomore Levi Shingleton were able to punch their tickets to the national competition by earning top five finishes in their respective categories.

Little, who earned second place in Digital Video Production, and Shingleton, who earned fourth in Information Technology, will compete in the national competition set June 27-July 2 in Baltimore, Md.

Along with the duo, the rest of the EHS FBLA members were also able to take home solid performances. Nearly each student finished in the top 10 for their respective competitions.

“I was impressed with the overall attitude of the students,” said Jason Clevinger, EHS teacher and FBLA sponsor. “We promote a professional character in these situations because a lot of the challenges they will face are industry-related. I feel like situations such as these prepare our students for the real world. It’s a stressful, yet rewarding, challenge for them to study on their own time and create a lot of original ideas for their designation competition.”

For Little, Clevinger said the senior’s attitude and familiarity with state competition helped prepare her for the second place finish.

“She is a seasoned FBLA member who has competed on the state level the last two years,” he added. “She competed and placed in Digital Video Production both years. Last year, she was top 10, narrowly missing the cut for nationals. Her main goal this entire year was to qualify for the event. She was our school-level chapter president and I’m very proud of the amount of work she put into the competition and for her contributions to FBLA in general.”

Joining Little is Shingleton, who was able to make a quick impact during his first year of FBLA.

“He worked and studied really hard for his Introduction to Information Technology test,” Clevinger said. “He placed first in the regionals in February and that’s what qualified him for state. I am extremely proud of what he was able to accomplish in such short time.”

Clevinger said the students are ready to put in the work for their trip to Maryland. The sponsor also provided a little bit of a preview Monday afternoon via email of what the students should expect.

“It’s interesting because they both have completely different paths, yet are part of the same competition,” he said. Levi must continue to study and retake what is essentially the same type of test over different Information Technology material and attempt to be one of the top scorers in the category.

Bre must resubmit the same video she made for state competition. This time, however, she will actually present to a larger audience and more judges which increases the pressure.