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Phi Beta Lambda Students Earn 13 Awards at National Conference

07/01/2022

JONESBORO – Eighteen Arkansas State University students returned home from the national Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference, carrying 13 awards they earned during the organization’s national competition.

The PBL members at A-State won “Largest Chapter in the Nation” for the fifth year in a row. They were accompanied to the conference in Chicago by Dr. Philip Tew, associate professor of finance and director of the Scarlet to Black Financial Literacy Program and the Center for Economic Education and Financial Literacy.

The following students won awards:

Abby Avery, a sophomore economics pre-law and finance double major from Jonesboro, won second place in business law.

Chris Sanders, a junior accounting major from Sherwood, won ninth place in business presentation.

Haley Brazel, a junior exercise science major from Cape Girardeau, Mo., won second place in business sustainability.

Baylor McElhaney of Bauxite, a sophomore musical theater major with a minor in economics, won eighth place in client service.

Melanie Ricker, a second-year student in the Master of Public Administration program (and 2021 graduate in business) from Corning, and Lex Leonard, a second-year graduate student in the Master of Arts in English program from Corning, won fifth place in desktop publishing.

Tyrell Andrews of Marked Tree, a second-year student in the Master of Arts in political science program, Rachel Washam of Jonesboro, a second-year doctoral student in environmental science (and graduate in business and MBA alumna, and Kristina Garlington, a senior economics pre-law major from Bryant (eStem Public Charter School), won ninth place in emerging business issues.

Lex Leonard, Baylor McElhaney and Austin Murray, a sophomore business administration major from Brookland, won second place in integrated marketing campaign.

Megan Gray, a junior business administration major from North Little Rock (Arkansas School for Math and Science), won seventh place in small business management.

Austin Shultz, a senior accounting and finance major from Paragould (Greene County Tech), and Kassidy Walker, a senior accounting and finance major from Malden, Mo., won sixth place in social media marketing.

Rachel Washam and Tyrell Andrews won fourth place in strategic analysis and decision-making.

Roxana Flores, a senior marketing major from Jonesboro (Valley View), won fourth place in website design.

Hailey Hawkins of Cabot, a 2022 business management graduate and soon-to-be MBA student, won fifth place in future business educator competition.

The chapter members learned the national organization is dropping the PBL name and rebranding it as Future Business Leaders of America – Collegiate Level, to fit in with the mid-level and high school segments of FBLA.

More details and photos from the Chicago trip are available on the social media pages for the A-State FBLA-CL Chapter and for the Neil Griffin College of Business.

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A-State's FBLA – Collegiate Level students proudly display their awards from the recent national conference in Chicago.