South Georgia Technical College PBL students qualify for national competition

May 7, 2020
Shown above (l to r) are the three South Georgia Technical College Americus Phi Beta Lambda members who qualified to participate in the virtual national PBL competitions in June. They are Kenyatta Slaughter, Ashley Halstead and Heather Hinton.
Shown above (l to r) are the three South Georgia Technical College Americus Phi Beta Lambda members who qualified to participate in the virtual national PBL competitions in June. They are Kenyatta Slaughter, Ashley Halstead and Heather Hinton.

   Three members of the South Georgia Technical College Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) chapter participated in the virtual Georgia PBL State Leadership Conference recently and qualified to compete in the online national Phi Beta Lambda conference in June.  The SGTC Americus chapter received over twenty awards and recognitions and fulfilled the requirements for the national “Outstanding Chapter” award.

  The three South Georgia Technical College Americus Phi Beta Lambda students to qualify for the online national competition included Ashley Halstead an Early Childhood Care and Education student from Ellaville; Heather Hinton, a Computer Information Systems student from Dawson; and Kenyatta Slaughter, a Business Technology student from Buena Vista.  Each of these three students met state PBL qualification criterion to represent the State of Georgia and South Georgia Technical College for all eight of their competitive events at the virtual national PBL conference June 24 – 26th.

   Kenyatta Slaughter was selected to be a 2020-2021 Georgia PBL State Officer and is a Georgia PBL Foundation Scholarship winner.  She took first place in the Future Business Educator and Statistical Analysis competitions and was second in the local chapter Annual Business Report event.  She also earned the Career Membership and Achievement Program Executive and Director Level awards.

   Ashley Halstead received a second place award in three different competitions.  She was second in the Community Service Project, second in Emerging Business Issues event and second in Forensic Accounting competition.  She is a Who’s Who member in the Georgia PBL and earned the Career Membership and Achievement Program’s recognition for President Level, Executive Level, and Director Level.

   Heather Hinton was the third member of the SGTC Americus group to qualify for nationals.  She took second in Networking Concepts and third place in Cyber Security.

   The South Georgia Technical College Americus PBL organization received the Outstanding Chapter distinction as well as the Platinum Chapter Award of Merit.  It also earned first place in the March of Dimes and FBLA Interactions competition and was second place in the Georgia PBL Foundation event.

   The Future Business Leaders of America – Phi Beta Lambda, Inc. (FBLA-PBL) is the largest career student business organization in the world.  Each year, FBLA-PBL helps over 230,000 members prepare for careers in business.  South Georgia Technical College students were competing against the top students from two and four year colleges and universities at the Georgia virtual conference.

   The purpose of FBLA-PBL is to inspire and prepare students to become community-minded business leaders in a global society through relevant career preparation and leadership experiences.

   South Georgia Technical College Academic Dean Dr. Andrea Oates and SGTC Business Technology Instructor Donna Lawrence are the advisors for this organization locally and Donna Lawrence also served on the state PBL executive committee.