BOLIVAR, Mo. – Southwest Baptist University’s Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) organization had
10 students compete at the PBL National Leadership Conference on June 24-27 in San
Antonio, with seven claiming 10 top-10 finishes.
SBU PBL competed against more than 1,800 students at the “Create Lead Inspire” event for the opportunity to win national titles and more than $110,000 in cash awards. SBU PBL has claimed 39 top-10 finishes at nationals in the last six years.
SBU students qualified for the national competition after an impressive showing at the PBL State Leadership Competition in April in Springfield. At the state competition, SBU PBL had 19 top-five finishes, including five first-place winners.
“I have had the pleasure of leading such an unbelievably amazing group of people this year to a very successful national conference, bringing home many top-10 finishes,” said senior Austin Masters, SBU PBL president. “I am so proud of these friends that I can call colleagues, and I am so sad to leave, but I have no doubt that every one of them will become even bigger and better than what I see today.”
SBU national competitors included:
- Allison Hawkins — senior, St. Joseph; first place — Construction Management; 10th place – Microeconomics
- Mikayla Throne — senior, Ozark; fourth place — Integrated Marketing Campaign
- Allison Baker— junior, Bolivar; fifth place — Information Management; fifth place – Project Management
- Josh Adams — senior, West Plains; eighth place — Help Desk
- Michelle Chen – junior, Lebanon; eighth place – Computer Applications
- Austin Masters – senior, Fair Grove; ninth place – Programming Concepts
- Audrey Masters – senior, West Plains; 10th place – Organizational Behavior & Leadership
Team events
- Audrey and Austin Masters — second place — Business Ethics
Other national competitors from SBU included: Makayla Chen (junior, Lebanon), Nathan Hooper (sophomore, Bolivar) and Marrah Delmont (sophomore, Halfway).
“I am thankful for our PBL officer team and the hard work they put into this organization to make it successful,” said Meilani Conley, SBU PBL advisor and instructor of computer and information sciences. “I am privileged to watch their development throughout the year and witnessing the hard work of each PBL member.”
Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) is a nonprofit education association with a quarter million students preparing for careers in business and business-related fields.
Photo cutline: (Front row, left to right) Meilani Conley, SBU PBL advisor, Michelle Chen, Makayla Chen, Audrey Masters (vice president), Allison Hawkins (treasurer) and Allison Baker. (Back row, left to right) Josh Adams, Mikayla Throne, Nathan Hooper (secretary), Austin Masters (president) and Marrah Delmont.
*Published: 7-3-19