Nine Spears School students qualify for FBLA-PBL National Leadership Conference

Monday, May 4, 2015

Back row: Collin McDowell. Middle row (from left): Andrea Wimberly, Loren Wortham, Anna Hudson and Michael Gotwald. Front row: Katlyn Harrison and Jeanette Gonzalez.

Nine Spears School of Business students have qualified to compete at the 2015 FBLA-PBL (Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda) National Leadership Conference after award-winning performances at the state conference earlier this month in Tulsa.

The students will travel to Chicago on June 23-28 to represent Oklahoma State University and Oklahoma PBL in their respective events to compete against students from across the nation.

In addition to individual and team awards, Kennedy Reynolds, was elected executive vice president for the statewide Phi Beta Lambda chapter, and OSU was named a Gold Ribbon Chapter for demonstrating outstanding participation in local, state and national level projects.

"I was very proud of all of our students. They all work incredibly hard. To learn that they all advanced to the national competition in at least one event was very exciting," said Vicki Johansen, senior academic counselor in the Spears School and OSU’s FBLA-PBL adviser.

Team awards

Jeanette Gonzalez, Andrea Wimberly and Loren Wortham: first place, Management Analysis & Decision Making.

Individual awards

Jeanette Gonzalez, accounting junior: second place, Personal Finance.
Michael Gotwald, computer-engineering senior: first place, Mobile Application Development; first place, Cyber Security.
Katlyn Harrison, business freshman: first place, Word Processing; third place, Computer Concepts.
Anna Hudson, business freshman: second place, Entrepreneurship Concepts.
Colin May, economics senior: third place, Microeconomics.
Collin McDowell, management information systems freshman: first place, Information Management; second place, Sales Presentation.
Kennedy Reynolds, management freshman: third place, Entrepreneurship Concepts.
Andrea Wimberly, management senior: second place, Project Management.
Loren Wortham, accounting and finance senior: first place, Financial Concepts.

The National Leadership Conference will also provide students with the opportunity to participate in a variety of professional development and leadership workshops to enhance their professional presence and leadership skills.

FBLA-PBL is the largest business career student organization in the world, reaching more than 11,000 college students, 3,000 professionals and 11,000 advisers.