Students from East Central Community College in Decatur placed first in 11 of 13 categories at the annual Mississippi Phi Beta Lambda State Leadership Conference Feb. 24-26.
This year’s competition was held virtually, with entries being judged live through video conferencing and through entries uploaded to YouTube for judging.
Phi Beta Lambda is a national business education association for students interested in careers in business and business-related fields. It is the largest career student organization in the world.
All 12 students from ECCC’s Theta Chi Chapter of PBL who competed placed in both events they entered, with 10 of the 12 students placing first in both events entered.
ECCC’s award-winning students included:
• Carmen Rodriquez of Carthage, First Place in Accounting.
• Sydni Goldman of Pelahatchie, First Place in Communications.
• Cezar Torres of Morton, First Place in Community Service.
• Lakayla McCune of Decatur, Brian Pace of Collinsville, and Rodriguez, First Place in Financial Services.
• Thomas White of Louisville, First Place in Impromptu Speaking.
• Ashley Aycock of Rose Hill and McCune, First Place in Integrated Marketing Campaign.
• Keisha Torres of Morton, First Place in Local Chapter Annual Business Report.
• Lillie Chapman of Philadelphia, Sierra Mallory of Philadelphia, Pace, Luke Wall of Decatur, and White, First Place in Parliamentary Procedures.
• Goldman, First Place in Small Business Plan.
• Chapman, Mallory, and Wall, First Place in Strategical Analysis and Decision Making.
• Kristi Davis of Enterprise, Cezar Torres, and Keisha Torres, First Place in Website Design.
• Aycock, Second Place in Client Service.
• Davis, Second Place in Job Interview.
All 12 students will compete virtually at the PBL National Leadership Conference to be held June 24-27.
Chapman and Cezar Torres were also recognized as Who’s Who in Phi Beta Lambda.
Several current and former ECCC students were recognized with entry into the Mississippi PBL Hall of Fame for placing first nationally at last summer’s virtual National Leadership Conference. They were Chapman, Toni Hilliard of Wesson, Genesis Lyons of Decatur, Pace, and Wall. May 2020 ECCC graduates who received Mississippi PBL Hall of Fame honors included Tucker Cain of Carthage, Janna Ford of Carthage, Beth Fortner of Port Gibson, Carly Greenwood of Philadelphia, Caleb McGrew of Meridian, Nathan Lampley of Louisville, and Hannah Stokes of Philadelphia.
As a chapter, East Central was recognized at the state conference with second place in fundraising for the March of Dimes, second place in Largest Chapter in Membership, and received Foundation Member status.
ECCC’s Phi Theta Kappa Chapter Captures Regional Awards
East Central Community College’s Theta Xi Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa recently won several awards at the virtual Mississippi/Louisiana PTK competition.
PTK is the international honor society for two-year colleges.
Among the honors earned by the ECCC PTK chapter were:
• Advisor Horizon Awards presented to chapter advisors James Miller, dean of students; Dr. Amanda Walton, director of housing and student activities; and Dr. Jenna Wright, mathematics instructor.
• First Place in the Theme category for the chapter’s Honors in Action Project “Helping Students with Special Needs Thrive During the Pandemic”.
• Fifth Place in the Most Distinguished Chapter category.
• Eighth Place for Most Distinguished Honors in Action Project.
• 10th Place for Most Distinguished College Project.
The PTK chapter at East Central in Decatur has one of the highest acceptance rates of any of the more than 600 chapters in the nation.
