A Cassville graduate is making a major mark in the collegiate Future Business Leaders of America scene.

Crowder College student Grant Preddy, of Cassville, is the National Champion in Finance, a title he won at the FBLA National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla., recently. In addition, Crowder College student Jenna Ehrhardt, of Neosho, took 8th place in Accounting.

Preddy, Ehrhardt, Shawn Boberg, of Joplin, and Raven Vogelpohl, of Fairview, represented Crowder College as they competed in their areas of business expertise, while also attending various business workshops and taking advantage of networking opportunities with businesses from across United States.

These students competed against major Universities from across the country, as nearly every state sends their top competitors to represent their Universities and Colleges. In the Finance competition, Preddy finished in first, and the runner-up was a student from Penn State University, a school with a student population of over 85,000.

The students who competed last week are already excited for next year’s National Conference and already have big goals.

“What is exciting is that these kids are already looking to next year,’ said Scott Donaldson, Crowder College business instructor and FBLA sponsor. ‘Jenna is already planning to win the National Championship in Accounting. Grant is wanting to do some type of performance event, and Raven is excited about Marketing.’

FBLA is the world’s largest business career and technical student organization with a mission of preparing over 230,000 members for business careers.