ELLISVILLE –Twelve Jones College students attended the Phi Beta Lambda National Conference in San Antonio, Texas and returned with national honors. The Management Analysis & Decision-Making team of Tyler Rouse of Lucedale, Owen Cote of Sumrall and Daniel Easley of Laurel placed fourth in the nation. This same team also placed ninth in the Financial Analysis & Decision-Making competition. Kaleb Ashmore of Sumrall placed seventh in the nation in computer programming.
“It was truly an unexpected opportunity to be able to represent Jones in this way. It was an incredible way to close out our time at Jones. Many great memories were made!” said Easley.
Other top honors came from the Network Design team of Trent Norris of Ellisville and Grant Valverde of Enterprise who placed seventh in the nation. Mendenhall’s Tara Williamson was a Top 15 finalist in the Hospitality Management competition.
“It was a long road to get to nationals and I’m happy we competed at this level. Just standing on the stage was an honor and to be able to represent Jones made this even more special,” said Rouse.
Jones College PBL Advisor, David Ray was especially proud of his students’ perseverance to continue competing among the nation’s top students.
“I was very proud of our student’s accomplishments,” said Ray. “We had six top-ten winners which is a continuation our tradition of excellence at the national level. For the last ten years, we’ve seen more students rise to the top. This is a testament to the hard work put forth by the students and their level of instruction here at Jones. These students worked hard to get to San Antonio and to watch their efforts pay off as they received recognition among 2,000 of their peers is very rewarding.”
Also attending the national conference was JC networking instructor, and PBL advisor, Mitch Dubose. He and Ray agree, “This group of students was one of our favorite groups because of the student’s intense drive to succeed. They all did a great job representing Jones College.”
Other students competing on the national level include Alyssa Pearce of Columbia. She competed in Job Interview. Melissa (Camille) Hankins of Laurel competed in Accounting Principles and Entrepreneurship Concepts. Zachary Busby of Laurel competed in Help Desk. Stephen Grantham of Hattiesburg competed in Computer Programming, and Dylan Meeks of Ellisville competed in Sports Management & Marketing and Contemporary Sports Issues. Each of these twelve JC students placed first or second in the state PBL state conference and competition in February to qualify for the national competition in June.