'He's the best'
<p>JEROME A. POLLOS/Press Ben Clark, a Lake City High School student, recently won a national title in a design competition in Chicago for the Business Professional of American National Leadership Conference.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Ben Clark, according to his graphic design teacher, is the best.
"There's nobody better," said Dan Armstrong, teacher at Lake City High School.
The senior recently topped a national field to win the graphic design promotion category in the Business Professionals of America leadership conference in Chicago.
More than 6,000 students from nearly 20 states competed in 72 events. About 50 were in graphic design promotion won by Clark.
Competition was strong. Finalists went through regional and state qualifiers to get there.
"It's a national championship," Armstrong said.
Clark received a plaque, medals and software for taking first. More important is what this means for his career.
"Ben puts that on his resume, he can do whatever he wants to do," Armstrong said. "If he wants to go into design, he won't have a very difficult time making that happen."
Clark's design is based on promoting next year's national leadership conference in Orlando, Fla. Clark developed the theme, "Begin Your Story."
Since it's about creating and learning about business opportunities at a young age, he believed that was appropriate.
"I thought that would really describe the purpose of next year's conference," he said.
Clark, who is in Armstrong's AP senior level graphic design class and plans a career in graphic design, also gave a 10-minute presentation.
He was confident he did well.
"You're basically trying to sell your product," Clark said.
He is the son of Stephen and Melissa Clark of Coeur d'Alene.