Ten University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business students earned 12 national awards, including 11 top ten finishes between individual and team events at the Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL) National Leadership Conference held in Anaheim, California. Participants from across the United States attended the conference to enhance their business skills, expand their networks and participate in 60 business and business-related competitive events. Nebraska PBL members qualified for the National Leadership Conference when they competed for and earned top honors at the state competition last spring.
“What I love about the National Leadership Conference is it gives our students a chance to match their skills against other students from all over the country. The high number of top place finishes by our students demonstrate the outstanding education they are receiving at Nebraska,” said Mark Davis, PBL faculty advisor and director of recruitment and academic advisor for the College of Business.
Students helped the Nebraska State Chapter capture a best-ever nine first places and a record-setting 54 top ten finishes at the national conference. As a state, only the Florida State Chapter fared better than Nebraska in 2017. Several of the members earned a cash prize along with their respective competition placing.
At the conference, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln chapter was also recognized as the second largest in the Mountain Plains Region. Brenna Backemeyer, a marketing and pre-cooperative education major from Elmwood, Nebraska, served as the chapter president this past year and helped expand the recognized student organization from 24 members two years ago to 56 students in 2016-17.
“We made a lot of growth and progress and having so many national placers was the highlight of such a good year in our chapter,” Backemeyer said. “I love FBLA-PBL, and I am happy to get to share that with more students in college.”
Individual event award winners include:
-
• Megan Copsey, management and hospitality, restaurant and tourism management major from Gering, Nebraska – 8th in Help Desk
-
• Kurt Cronican, economics and finance major from Omaha, Nebraska – 2nd in Economic Analysis and Decision Making
-
• Kenneth Erickson, actuarial science major from Omaha, Nebraska – 4th in Accounting Principles and 8th in Social Media Challenge
-
• Trevor Lockard, finance major from Lincoln, Nebraska – 1st in both Macroeconomics and Microeconomics
-
• Michaela Mapes, economics major from Bennington, Nebraska – 2nd in Human Resource Management
-
• Jacey Olmer, marketing and art major from Humphrey, Nebraska – Finalist in Marketing Analysis and Decision Making
-
• Rebecca Otten, economics and finance major, from Crystal Lake, Minnesota – 3rd in Microeconomics
Team event award winners include:
-
• Brenna Backemeyer and Jacey Olmer – 4th in Community Service Project
-
• Brenna Backemeyer and Rose Wehrman, management major from Kenesaw, Nebraska – 1st in Emerging Business Issues
-
• Brady Conant, supply chain management major from Hastings, Nebraska and Rose Wehrman – 2nd in Global Analysis and Decision Making
-
• Kurt Cronican and Michaela Mapes – 1st in Business Decision Making
-
• Megan Copsey, Rebecca Otten and Demi van Reeuwijk, finance and mathematics major from Eagan, Minnesota – 4th in Business Ethics
Students interested in building their business professional skills with Phi Beta Lambda, visit the UNL chapter’s website at:
http://www.huskerpbl.org.
Published: September 28, 2017