March 17, 2016
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Democrat seeks post on board Miller is homeopath with background as educator By Rick Gustafson Special to Colorado Community Media
From left, Kristen Jackson, Autumn Wendler and adviser Lori McCoin will take their FBLA project to the state competition in Vail in April. Photo by Geraldine Smith
Students get down to business Elizabeth students ready to take business projects to state FBLA competition By Geraldine Smith Special to Colorado Community Media Two industrious Elizabeth High School students, Kristen Jackson and Autumn Wendler, with their chapter of Future Business Leaders of America, are making a difference in Elizabeth’s business community. FBLA is a national organization for students interested in business or just developing leadership skills. The organization sets high standards for participating students from rigorous requirement for awards, dress codes at conferences to mandatory involvement in the community. For instance, the Elizabeth High chapter collected 1,000 books for Reach Out and Read, a program designed to send each child visiting a doctor’s office or a hospital home with a book. The school also participated in the March of Dimes drive, and the chapter raised $500 for the charity by collecting donations outside of Walmart. Jackson and Wendler, with the support of their chapter and advisers, Lori McCoin and John Loutzenhiser, chose Partnership With Business as their focus project for this year. They will take the project to the state competition in Vail in April. If they win in Vail, the project will go on to nationals in Atlanta later this year.
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Kids turn into young adults by developing leadership skills, improving communication skills, serving their community, and this is just plain fun to play a small part in.”
John Loutzenhiser, Elizabeth High School FBLA adviser
Loutzenhiser took another EHS project to nationals in 2014. Zack Perry, Aleigha Mace and Haley Frahm completed a study of the Elizabeth water and sewer system, including recommendations for rate-structure adjustments. They did not win at nationals, but as Loutzenhiser said, “… win or lose, these kids left Nashville that year knowing they can hang with the best and that is what we are all about — building confidence.” Each school creates its own chapter. The FBLA is not part of the school’s business classes, but members of FBLA are often enrolled in the business classes. In the last 10 months, Jackson and Wendler spent, at the very least, 200 hours on this project, not including support hours from members of their chapter. The idea according to Jackson, a senior, “…was to market the downtown merchants and bring awareness to them.”
In pursuit of this goal, Jackson and Wendler, a junior, contacted all Main Street businesses in Elizabeth to research individual businesses and assess marketing needs. They discovered that exposure for businesses tucked away in Elizabeth was the biggest challenge facing merchants, despite a Main Street location. Setting out to address this problem systematically, they first conducted a survey to determine where consumers found their information. Jackson said, “We were not surprised to find that most people got information from the Internet and not from newspapers or other printed material.” With this ammunition, they proceeded to set up a website, www.elizabethmainstreet.com, for consumers to do one-stop shopping in Elizabeth. Not content with just the website to market Elizabeth merchants, the FBLA continues on Page 19
One of the major items of business on the agenda at the Democratic Elbert County Assembly on March 5 was to nominate candidates for local elections, and for the District 3 county commissioner’s race, the delegates chose longtime county resident Barbara Miller. Miller says her priorities as commissioner would center on budget details, an in-depth look into fracking, and property tax structure. “We need to think about potentially looking at our tax structure; to see where taxes are either fair or unfair and where,” she said. “Because we’re having trouble with money in the county, we need to take a look and see, is the taxing system fair here?” Originally from Columbus, Indiana, Miller has a bachelor of arts in history from Carleton College and a master’s degree in elementary education from Indiana University. She worked as a school teacher for five years, teaching middle school social studies for two years and serving as an elementary school teacher for three years. Later she worked as a computer programmer and has worked as a homeopath since she moved to Elbert County in 1993. Miller has followed politics all of her life and sees her analytic ability and work with computers as an asset toward being a county commissioner. Miller continues on Page 19
DEBATE OVER DAYLIGHT SAVING Our clocks have sprung forward one hour, but many people think the practice is outdated. Read more on PAGE 10.
ELBERT COUNTY NEWS (USPS 171-100) OFFICE: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 | PHONE: 303-566-4100 A legal newspaper of general circulation in Elizabeth, Colorado, the Elbert County News is published weekly on Thursday by Colorado Community Media, 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129. PERIODICALS POSTAGE PAID AT ELIZABETH, COLORADO and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address change to: 9137 S. Ridgeline Blvd., Suite 210, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129 DEADLINES: Display: Thurs. 12 p.m. | Classifieds: Mon. 10 a.m. | Obits: Mon. 10 a.m. | Legals: Thurs. 11 a.m.