Font Size: A A A

Students from Bluefield College’s chapter of Phi Beta Lambda (PBL), a national business student organization, recently competed in the PBL State Leadership Conference in Richmond, Virginia, and brought home 34 awards -- more than any other college PBL team participating in the statewide academic competition.

Chris Shoemaker

May 1, 2012

The 26 Bluefield College scholars competed against students from 12 other Virginia colleges, including the likes of Virginia Commonwealth, Radford, Emory and Henry, UVA-Wise, Longwood, and Sweetbrier.

The BC students developed business plans, designed service projects, offered presentations, participated in interviews, completed tests, and took part in other competitive activities en route to 14 first place awards, 13 second place prizes, and six third place honors. The Bluefield team also was recognized as a bronze member of the Virginia FBLA-PBL Foundation.

The 34 total awards for Bluefield College this spring marks the seventh time in eight years since the creation of the school’s PBL chapter in 2005 that BC students have collected either the most or second most number of awards in state competition.

Winners of first place awards in 2012 and their respective competition included:
-- Donovan Buterakos, Bluefield, Virginia, “Microeconomics”
-- Donovan Buterakos, Bluefield, Virginia, “Statistical Analysis”
-- Cary Carpenter, Roanoke, Virginia, “Mary B. McGinty Memorial Scholarship”
-- Katilyn Duggins, Waynesboro, Virginia, and Jasmine Washington, Cleveland, Ohio, “Human Resource Management”
-- Courtney Dutton, Abingdon, Virginia, “Computer Applications”
-- Edric Folden, Richmond, Virginia, and Ben Shumate, Bluefield, West Virginia, “Business Decision Making”
-- Lydia Freeman, Bristol, Virginia, “Business Communication”
-- Tyler Giles, Roanoke, Virginia, and Elisabeth Willson, Amissville, Virginia, “Web Site Design”
-- D.T. Huynh, Richlands, Virginia, “Information Management”
-- Micah Johnson, Tazewell, Virginia, “Accounting Principles”
-- Matt Moore, Max Meadows, Virginia, “Sports Management and Marketing”
-- Emily Sears, Hinton, West Virginia, “Word Processing”
-- Team Bluefield College, “Project ASK”
-- Team Bluefield College, presented by Cary Carpenter, Roanoke, Virginia, “Community Service Project.”

Winners of second place awards and their respective competition included:
-- Jeremy Bartlett, Bluefield, West Virginia, and Emily Sears, Hinton, West Virginia, “Desktop Publishing”
-- Cary Carpenter, Roanoke, Virginia, “Business Law”
-- DeArra Darling, Powder Springs, Georgia, and Jasmine Washington, Cleveland, Ohio, “Strategic Analysis and Decision Making”
-- Andrew Dickerson, Santa Clara, California, “Contemporary Sports Issues”
-- Katilyn Duggins, Waynesboro, Virginia, and Alex Jentzen, Queen Creek, Arizona, “Management Analysis and Decision Making
-- Courtney Dutton, Abingdon, Virginia, “Justice Administration”
-- Tyler Giles, Roanoke, Virginia, “Networking Concepts”
-- D.T. Huynh, Richlands, Virginia, “Computer Concepts”
-- Alex Jentzen, Queen Creek, Arizona, “Sales Presentation”
-- Samantha Magyar, Bland, Virginia, “Information Management”
-- Borgia M’Bala, Paris, France, “Job Interview”
-- Ben Shumate, Bluefield, West Virginia, “Financial Services”
-- Team Bluefield College, “Second Largest Chapter Membership.”

Winners of third place awards and their respective competition included:
-- Joey Andrews, Chesterfield, Virginia, “Contemporary Sports Issues”
-- Andrew Dickerson, Santa Clara, California, “Justice Administration”
-- Jordan Johnson, Chantilly, Virginia, “Financial Concepts”
-- Micah Johnson, Tazewell, Virginia, “Macroeconomics”
-- Kenssy Quezada, New York, New York, “Marketing Analysis and Decision Making”
-- Elisabeth Willson, Amissville, Virginia, “Word Processing “

In addition, during the state conference Cary Carpenter, president of the BC chapter of PBL, was elected to state office as secretary/treasurer for 2012-2013. Faculty advisor Dee Shoemaker, an assistant professor of business, was recognized for five years of service as a PBL counselor.

For their success at the state level, 20 of the 26 BC students qualified for the national PBL competition in San Antonio, Texas, in June. In addition to competing in Richmond, Bluefield’s PBL team toured the Volvo Trucks North America New River Valley plant in Dublin, Virginia, where BC alumni Zack Holderfield, a Volvo engineer, and James Osborne, a Volvo manager, arranged and guided the visit.

Comments: