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In March, PBL competed in the State Leadership Conference.

Casey Palmer

April 12, 2012

Twenty-six Bluefield College students competed in the Phi Beta Lambda State Leadership Conference, held in Richmond the last weekend in March.

“Phi Beta Lambda, or PBL, is the college-version of Future Business Leaders of America in high school,” said Dee Shoemaker, assistant professor of business and one of the PBL advisors at BC.

PBL is a business organization that focuses on leadership development, career development, community service, and networking. PBL leaders also put much effort into preparing students to be ready to enter the “work world.”

	BC's PBL Team at the State Leadership Conference in Richmond

“PBL is not limited to business students,” said Shoemaker. “It’s open to students in any major.”

Cary Carpenter, president of the BC Chapter encourages students at BC to join PBL.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn from and to experience,” said Carpenter. “I would recommend it to everyone that is able.”

Students who aren’t a part of PBL can still compete in the State Leadership Conference and have the opportunity to qualify for national competition.

This year BC won a total of 34 awards: 13 of those were first place, 13 were second place, and six were third place.

Twenty of the students who won awards qualified for Nationals, which will be hosted in San Antonio, Texas, in June.

The BC Chapter is made up of 30 members. Officers other than Carpenter are Andrew Dickerson, vice president; Katilyn Duggins, fundraising and community service coordinator; Borgia M’Bala, secretary; and Ben Shumate, treasurer.

The BC chapter received recognition as the second largest chapter in the state and an award for their continued support of Project ASK, Virginia PBL’s state service project. BC was also recognized as a bronze member of the Virginia FBLA-PBL Foundation.

Carpenter attended the conference in Richmond, and was elected to the state office of secretary/treasurer for 2012-2013.

“This means that I’ve accomplished something for our chapter and for myself,” said Carpenter. “It makes me want to do well in my upcoming position regarding PBL.”

Carpenter also placed second in Business Law and won first place for her presentation on a community service project for her chapter.

“I was very excited about that one because I had worked on it for a while and I was nervous about presenting it,” said Carpenter. “It was nice to win after all the time and effort was put into it.”

Shoemaker was also recognized for five years of service as an advisor. Harry Snodgrass, chair, div. of business, assistant professor of business, and a PBL advisor at BC accompanied Shoemaker and the other students on the trip.

In addition to the conference, the group stopped in Dublin, Va., to tour Volvo Trucks North America’s New River Valley Plant. Two BC alums, Zack Holderfield, class of 2009, and James Osborne, class of 2001, arranged the tour. Both Holderfield and Osborne are employed by Volvo.

Holderfield is an induction spare parts engineer in Greensboro, N.C., and Osborne is the quality preparation-validation manager at the NRV facility. Holderfield met the group from BC at the Volvo plant and answered questions about Volvo and his experience working at the plant in N.C.

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