Craig Howell STRONG COMPETITION — Jessa Fields, left, and Alexis Rhodes recently were among Oak Glen High Future Business Leaders of America students taking part in the FBLA National Leadership Conference. The pair brought home a fourth-place finish in the American Enterprise Project category.

NEW CUMBERLAND — A pair of future business leaders recently returned to Hancock County after receiving a top-five finish in a national competition.

Alexis Rhodes and Jessa Fields were among Future Business Leaders of America students from Oak Glen High School who competed in the FBLA National Leadership Conference, held in Anaheim, Calif., June 28 to July 3.

Competing in the American Enterprise Project category, Rhodes — a recent Oak Glen graduate — and Fields — a rising junior at the school — presented on the topic of the club’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.

“They were fourth in the nation and the only winners in the state of West Virginia,” FBLA advisor Tina Viakley said.

During Monday’s meeting of the Hancock County Board of Education, Rhodes and Fields demonstrated their presentation where they explained the planning and development of the two-year-old VITA program at Oak Glen, discussed the training taken by FBLA members and other participating students to become certified in income tax preparation, promotional efforts through local media, as well as some of the results of this year’s effort.

The pair noted, as part of this year’s VITA campaign at Oak Glen, students aided more than 130 residents, assisting them in saving more than $2,800 in preparation fees, and gaining more than $140,000 in refunds and tax credits for area residents.

Viakley noted there were 11,000 competitors from across the country taking part in the various categories.

“It was stiff competition,” she said.

The conference included almost 80 categories of competition.

“There is no doubt in my mind you are building a great team,” Superintendent Dan Enich told Viakley Monday.