The national conference was held in Nashville.

Tonganoxie teacher Shelley Scates, last year’s THS sponsor for FBLA, said four THS students participated — Tyler Miles, Mike Fonkert, Chris Downs and Austin Young.

Tyler, Mike and Chris, who now are seniors at THS, placed 10th nationwide when they competed as a team in entrepreneurship.

“They had to take written tests,” Scates said. “Their team scores were high enough to make it to the finals.”

The three were presented with a business problem. Their assignment — to act as business consultants and come up with suggestions for the company.

They presented their case in front of a panel of judges.

Scates said their 10th-place win was “huge.”

“There were over 6,500 students from all over, even outside the United States,” Scates said.

Austin, who graduated from THS in May, participated in the competition by taking a written test. He now is a student at Kansas University, majoring in international business, Scates said. Austin was the 2005-2006 THS FBLA president, a position Chris holds this year.

Scates, who this year teaches at Tonganoxie Junior High School, said THS business teacher Jared Jackson now is FBLA sponsor.

In recent years, FBLA activity has picked up at THS, Scates said, noting former THS teacher Jim Martin started the program in 2003, with about 15 members.

“I took over in 2004. We had 25 members our first year and last year we had 65,” Scates said. “So it just kind of took off.”