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More than 750 of America’s best and brightest college students participated in the Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) business student organization’s National Leadership Conference (NLC) and competition held in Chicago, IL.

The PBL National Leadership Conference was held June 23 – 27, 2022.  Participants from across the United States and other countries attended this exciting virtual experience to enhance their business skills, expand their networks, and participate in over 50 business and business-related competitive events. 

Presentation College (PC) students received top honors at the national competition.  Jonah Evans and Blaine Patten placed fifth in Emerging Business Issues. 

The event consisted of the following (taken from the FBLA-PBL Competitive Event Handbook): “A focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is an important topic for leaders, both as a principle of workplace culture and as a strategic business advantage. The recognition of an organization’s culture as a working and learning community for an increasingly diverse workforce has resulted in the need for continued discourse, education, policy, and procedure reviews, and expanded professional development centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Competitors will be required to discuss both the affirmative and negative side of this issue:

• Discuss the ramifications of leaders not employing an organization-wide engagement in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work designed to impact the organization’s culture, practices, and strategy.
• Discuss the positive results of leaders employing an organization-wide engagement in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work designed to impact the organization’s culture, practices, and strategy.”

“These students are incredibly talented both in and out of the classroom.  Jonah and Blaine are truly two of the most dedicated and hard-working students, who will continue to create positive change for each of their home communities,” said Dr. Brenda Merkel, Presentation College business faculty and PBL adviser. 

About FBLA-PBL, Inc.

Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda, Inc., the premier student business organization, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) education association with a quarter million members and advisers in over 6,500 active middle school, high school, and college chapters worldwide. FBLA-PBL’s mission is to inspire and prepare students to become community-minded business leaders in a global society through relevant career preparation and leadership experiences. The association is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, just outside of Washington, D.C. For more information, visit fbla-pbl.org.