Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Phi Beta Lambda students returned from their state conference in Charlotte with numerous awards.

Phi Beta Lambda, and its sister organizations under the Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda umbrella, include a quarter million students preparing for careers in business and business-related fields. Competitions at the 61st Annual Phi Beta Lambda State Leadership Conference include human resource management, accounting and economics, as well as team events in business ethics, desktop publishing, parliamentary procedure and a host of other similar business-related topics. The students also attended leadership seminars at the conference and received individual leadership development certificates.

Several students from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College attended the conference to compete with hundreds of North Carolina’s best and brightest college students and brought home multiple state-level awards, including six first place awards. Students competed among many two-year community colleges as well as University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, East Carolina, Pfeiffer, University of Mount Olive, Barton College, Western Carolina University, Appalachian State, Campbell University and Lenior-Rhyne, among many others.

Award winners included: Pam Grubb, first place in Accounting Principles; Katelyn Collier, first place in Accounting for Professionals; David Lore, first place in Computer Concepts and second place in Microeconomics; Tricia Douglas, first place in Entrepreneur Concepts and third place in Retail Management; Letitia Dennis-Boger, first place in Management Concepts and second place in Organizational Behavior; Angela Lore, first place in Financial Concepts and second place in Computer Applications; Anthony Rossi, second place in Future Business Executive; Jennifer Suhocky, fourth place in Business Communications and fourth place in Personal Finance; Katelyn Collier, fourth place in Management Concepts, and Brandon Brock, seventh place in Accounting Principles.

This was the eighth consecutive year that Rowan-Cabarrus students received high honors at the North Carolina Phi Beta Lambda State Leadership Conference. First-, second- and some third-place winners automatically qualify to compete in the 2015 national conference in Chicago.

“I am so proud of all of our students who competed at the conference,” said Martha Cranford, Rowan-Cabarrus instructor and chapter advisor. “I encourage all Rowan-Cabarrus students to consider being part of the PBL organization and compete in state and national competitive events.”

More than 250 delegates, advisors and professional division members from 38 member universities and colleges in North Carolina attended the annual state conference. The Rowan-Cabarrus chapter is among the largest in the state and encourages students to join and take advantage of the PBL leadership opportunities.

“We have great students at Rowan-Cabarrus, and we look forward to bringing home many awards in the future,” said Robin Turner, chair of the accounting program at Rowan-Cabarrus.