ALBEMARLE — Stanly County was well represented at the recent Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda 2022 Collegiate National Leadership Conference in Chicago as three Stanly Community College students placed in the top 10 of their respective award categories as honorary members of their PBL chapter.
This summer’s conference was held at McCormick Place — the country’s largest convention center — as over 1,000 college-level students competed nationally.
For the 19th consecutive year, SCC was named as one of the National “Gold Seal Chapter” honorees.
Norwood native Chloee Thomas was given the first-place award at both the state and national levels in the Global Analysis and Decision-Making event. As one of 15 finalists in that category, Thomas was heralded by a panel of judges for her case study presentation; she also finished seventh nationally in the Sports Management and Marketing event.
SCC’s Nicole Story was victorious in the Future Business Executive category as she notched the top position in what was the final event of the awards program. Story’s claimed the award on the merits of her written test, cover letter, resume, and an interview with a group of judges from the Chicago business community.
Mount Pleasant native Toby Neal took home the third-place spot in the Job Interview event as well as the sixth-place spot in the Retail Management event.
“We are very proud of both the SCC students who competed at the state level and are especially excited to have these three represent the college and the state so successfully at the national level,” chapter advisor Katrina Sams, a former state and national PBL award recipient, said in an SCC press release. “It is especially prestigious since our students are in competition with four-year colleges and universities across the state and then the nation. These awards reflect the quality education SCC students receive!”
Starting this fall, PBL will be identified as FBLA Collegiate as it has transitioned over the years into the college level of Future Business Leaders of America. FBLA-PBL is America’s oldest and largest national student business association, with over 230,000 middle school, high school, and college members — comprised of over 6,500 chapters — pursuing or learning about careers in the business field.
According to chapter advisor Dan Hazlett, PBL membership is open to all SCC students as business awareness, leadership development, and career-planning procedures are important tools for college graduates.
Hazlett was recently elected to a second term on the organization’s Board of Directors and attended the national conference with his SCC students; he has been a local adviser for the Stanly Community College chapter since its charter back in 1974.