Participants in the recent PBL South District Conference included: top row, Oscar Torres and Stephanie Jimenez; second row, Teresa Kerce, Shanique Moore and Susan Musgrove; and bottom row, Meghan Lovett, Ashley Prichard and Lisa Steffy.

THOMASVILLE, Ga. — The Georgia Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) South District Conference was recently hosted by Central Georgia Technical College in Macon. The event featured more than 130 students from throughout the southern region, including representatives from Southern Regional Technical College’s (SRTC) Chapter 4201 based in Moultrie.

Eight members from the PBL 4201 Chapter brought home a total of 14 competitive awards and one chapter award.

First place awards were presented to: Stephanie Jimenez for Accounting Principles and Business Communications;  the team of Teresa Kerce and Lisa Steffy for Business Ethics; Meghan Lovett for Marketing Analysis, Decision Making, and Marketing Concepts; Ashley Prichard for Client Services; and Oscar Torres for Business Decision Making.

Second place awards were presented to Susan Musgrove for Job Interview and Ashley Prichard for Retail Management.

Other awards were presented to: Susan Musgrove, Client Services (3rd); Lisa Steffy, Public Speaking (4th); Oscar Torres, Help Desk (4th); and Shanique Moore, Job Interview (5th).

In addition to these individual awards Chapter 4201 placed second in the Battle of the Chapters, which is a competition between all the chapters answering various questions about PBL.

“We are very proud of all our students as they showed the utmost level of professionalism during their respective competitions. It was the first time competing for five of the eight students and their success is a confirmation that technical and career education plays a vital role in bringing business and education together in a positive way,” commented Ann Young, PBL co-advisor.

Students earning first or second place honors will now travel to Atlanta to compete in state-level   competitions, to be held April 7-8. First place finishers at the state level will have the opportunity to compete nationally in Anaheim, Calif., June 24-26.  

The FBLA concept was developed in 1937 by Dr. Hamden L. Forkner of Columbia University. The first high school chapter was chartered in Johnson City, Tenn., on Feb. 3, 1942. In 1958, the first PBL collegiate chapter was chartered in Iowa.

The Professional Division, originally the Alumni Division, began in 1979. Joining FBLA-PBL in 1994 was the FBLA-Middle Level for students in grades 5-9.

Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) education association with a quarter million students preparing for careers in business and business-related fields.