he Williams Baptist College Phi Beta Lambda chapter competed at the state conference on April 9-11, and the organization brought home 35 certificates while also maintaining their Gold Chapter status. The group was also named the fourth largest chapter and third largest professional division in the state.

PBL is the collegiate extension of the Future Business Leaders of America.

“WBC-PBL students once again shined in the competitions at the state conference,” said Heather Parson, assistant professor of business at Williams and PBL sponsor. “We placed first in eleven events. Now we will begin preparing for the national competition.”

To qualify for the national conference, which will be held in Chicago on June 24-27, students must win first, second or third place in testing categories, or first or second place in presentation events.

WBC Students earning first place honors in national qualifying categories were: Garrett Williams, Oni Robertson and Jeff Morris (Business Decision Making); Jeff Manuel, Taylor Galloway and Megan Weick (Business Presentation); Ethan Risley, Michaela Thompson and Hannah Morgan (Emerging Business Issues); Cherith dos Santos (Financial Services); Morris (Future Business Executive); Jovane Salinas, Thiago Silva and Andrei Leal (Hospitality Management); Salinas and Matt Crews (Human Resource Management); Paige Vickery (Job Interview); Caleb Hicks (Management Concepts); Mallory McWhorter (Retail Management) and Alec Scott (Sports Management and Marketing).

Second place winners were: Vickery (Business Communications); Williams, Galloway and Tyler Dibert (Community Service Project); Crews (Contemporary Sports Issues); Weick, Santos and Cade Liebhaber (Financial Analysis and Decision Making); Cogan Ford and Morgan Hatcher (Human Resource Management) and Sydney Davied (Local Chapter Annual Report).

Those placing third were: Liebhaber and Hatcher (Business Law); Shelby Reams (Client Service); Joshua Consemiu (Contemporary Sports Issues); Scott (Financial Concepts); Ford, Thompson and Morgan (Marketing Analysis and Decision Making) and Manuel, Hicks and Casse Redus (Network Design).

Fourth place recognition went to: Edwin Irungu (Client Service); Nick Scott (Contemporary Sports Issues) and Leal (International Business).

Taking fifth place were: Dibert (Accounting Principles); Robertson (Contemporary Sports Issues); Consemiu (Entrepreneurship Concepts) and Reams (Macroeconomics).

Honorees in open competitions, which are not national qualifying events were: Santos with a second place finish in Business Etiquette, Hatcher with a third place finish in Business Etiquette and Liebhaber with a fifth place finish in Business Principles.

While attending the conference, the PBL group delivered over $1000 in donations, taken up at the March 2 Hunger Awareness Dinner, to the Little Rock-based headquarters of Heifer International, whose mission is to alleviate world hunger.