Aug 9, 2009 2 min read

Five Laurel Business Institute (LBI) students returned from the 2009 Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL) national competition with four National Awards of Excellence. The awards, earned by the top finishers at the annual competition, bring to 14 the number of LBI students who have won in the last five years. Following are LBI’s winners from the event, held in Anaheim, Calif., June 20-23:

– Jennifer Lener, second place, computer applications.

– Lauren Tate, third place, word processing and fifth place, computer applications.

– Cory Carey and Mark Ellsworth, 10th place, desktop publishing.

The awards were part of a comprehensive, competitive events program sponsored by FBLA-PBL. Individuals, state teams and local chapters were encouraged to compete in more than 50 different events representing a wide range of activities focused on business and leadership development.

Nancy Decker, president of LBI, was pleased with the students’ performance.

“We went to the conference expecting our students to win again and we weren’t disappointed,” Decker said. “We’ve done this well each of the seven years we’ve gone to this competition and our PBL members were very well prepared. We’ve sent students to the national competition each year so far and this one was no exception.”

LBI’s students earned the right to compete in the national event based on their performance at the state competition in Harrisburg April 3-5.

Led by their advisers, Jo Anna Meese and Colleen Lancaster, both of whom are LBI graduates and instructors, the following students won at the state level:

– Carey and Ellsworth, first place, desktop publishing.

– Lener, first place, computer applications.

– Tate, first place, word processing.

– Nathan Lilley, Ellsworth and Carey, first place, network design.

– Lilley, second place, networking concepts.

– Tate, second place, computer applications.

Meese, who accompanied the students to the national competition, has coached several of the state and national competitors over the years.

She was elated at another strong showing on state and national levels.

“LBI is one of only a few two-year postsecondary schools that compete on the state and national level,” said Meese. “There were 1,700 plus competitors in attendance at the (national leadership conference). LBI students are well prepared and are always confident in their abilities to stand head-to-head with their competition.”