PBL team wins three 1st Place awards at National Leadership Conference

June 26, 2009
Contact: Paul K. Logsdon, Director of Public Relations and Publications (417) 865-2815, ext. 7292

Back L-R: Michael Kincheloe, Josh Allen, Vanna Bushong, Blair Diel, Nicholas Reasor, Elizabeth Fletcher
Front L-R: Leah Hindy, Natalie Akins, Zachariah Terhark, Samuel Poe, Gabriel Van Huss

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Eleven Evangel University students attended the Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference in Anaheim, Calif., June 20-23, and they came home with more awards than any Evangel PBL team has ever earned at a national conference.

Elizabeth Fletcher also attended the conference. She is chair of Evangel’s business and economics department, serves as the PBL adviser, and is also a member of the National Awards Program committee.

The following Evangel students received 1st Place awards in the competition:

Josh Allen, Springfield, Mo., senior accounting major – Accounting Analysis and Decision Making
Michael Kincheloe, Pleasant Valley, Mo., senior accounting major – Parliamentary Procedure
Gabriel VanHuss, Springfield, Mo., senior accounting and English double major – Mr. Future Business Executive

“The Mr. Future Business Executive category, won by Gabriel VanHuss, is the most prestigious award of the National Conference,” said Fletcher. “In this category, the student takes a comprehensive exam covering all business topics, completes a job application process, writes an essay, and then interviews with CEOs of major corporations.”

A photo of Van Huss will be on display with all previous FBE winners in the National PBL headquarters in Reston, Va., according to Fletcher.

With more than 3,000 in attendance, parents and friends were able to watch the awards ceremony live on the FBLA-PBL Web site as the top ten in each category were presented on stage.

Additional top ten awards were earned by Evangel students as follows:

5th Place: Networking Concepts – Samuel Poe, senior computer science major from Overland Park, Kan.
5th Place: Telecommunications – Samuel Poe
6th Place: Economic Analysis and Decision Making – Michael Kincheloe
7th Place: Human Resource Management – Zachariah Terhark, junior accounting major from Corwith, Iowa
10th Place: Business Decision Making Team – Natalie Akins, sophomore marketing major from Springfield, Mo.; Vanna Bushong, senior marketing and computer science double major from Montezuma, Iowa; Blair Diel, junior accounting and biblical studies double major from Topeka, Kan.
10th Place: International Business – Zachariah Terhark

Other teams members who attended the conference are Leah Hindy, senior management major from Battlefield, Mo.; Joshua Young, senior management major from Beavercreek, Ohio; Nicholas Reasor, junior management major from Nixa, Mo

“This conference allowed Evangel students’ learning experience to be propelled beyond the theoretical,” said Fletcher. “Inspiration and passion emitted from the ‘celebrity’ business executives into the hearts and minds of our students,” she said.

The keynote speaker was Frank Maguire, one of corporate America’s most knowledgeable authorities on corporate culture, productivity, and communications. His impressive resume includes serving as the original senior vice president of Industrial Relations for FedEx and as head of program development at ABC Radio Network. He also served in the Executive Office of the President in Washington, D.C., under both John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, and was one of the five original task force members who created Project Headstart and Special Olympics.

Phi Beta Lambda is an educational association of postsecondary student members preparing for careers in business. There are more than 11,000 active members in the U.S. Missouri has more than 500 members in 26 chapters.

For additional information, go to http://www.fbla-pbl.org/docs/FullBookPB.pdf or contact Elizabeth Fletcher at 417-300-0600.