West Georgia Technical College (WGTC) students won 10 awards at the Future Business Leaders of America – Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL) National Leadership Conference held June 24-27 in Chicago. FBLA-PBL is the largest business career and technical student organization in the world. The annual conference gives FBLA and PBL members from colleges and universities across the country an opportunity to network, attend leadership workshops and compete in events testing their business knowledge and skills.

“Our entire Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) group did a marvelous job in Chicago. Not only did they take advantage of the opportunities for personal and professional development by attending the many seminars offered daily during the National Conference and Competition, but they also competed against four-year schools and came back with multiple top ten awards, with several students winning scholarship money,” said Phi Beta Lambda advisor and WGTC English instructor, Carol Pearson.

Nine WGTC students competed in a combined total of 25 events and brought home 10 national awards. The top 10 performers in each event were recognized during the Awards of Excellence Ceremony on June 27.

Students participating in the conference were Amy Alexander of Carrollton, Ondreah Fordjour of Douglasville, James Garrett of Douglasville, Iveta Kral of Sharpsburg, Seth McCraken of Bremen, Morgan Niles of Douglasville, David Warren-Smith of Sharpsburg, Jessica White of Powder Springs and Kenneth York of Carrollton.

“With many students returning fall semester, I am excited to see what PBL has in store for the next year,” said Pearson.

WGTC students winning national PBL honors included:

• First place – David Warren-Smith, Cybersecurity

• Second place – David Warren-Smith, Networking Concepts

• Fourth place – Ondreah Fordjour & Morgan Niles, Accounting A & D (team)

• Fifth place – Kenneth York, Global A & D; James Garrett & Jessica White, Website Design (team)

• Eighth place – Ondreah Fordjour, Accounting for Professionals; David Warren-Smith, Computer Concepts; Seth McCraken, Help Desk

• Ninth place – Iveta Kral, Job Interview

• Tenth place – James Garrett, Networking Concepts