HPU Press Release – Students from Howard Payne University’s chapter of Phi Beta Lambda recently won several awards at the State Leadership Conference (SLC) at San Jacinto College Maritime Campus in LaPorte. These wins qualify them for HPU’s third showing in recent history at the National Leadership Conference to be held this year in Anaheim, California, June 24-27.

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Jody Loudamy of Goldthwaite and Jessica Harris of Brownwood, both May 2017 graduates, made the trip to the SLC which resulted in their wins for the third year in a row. Connor Vara, junior from Brownwood, also won on his first trip to state and will represent HPU at the national conference this summer.

The three were accompanied by their adviser, Mike Daub, associate professor of accounting at HPU. Six other students competed by completing comprehensive exams and/or projects at HPU prior to the SLC.

The three attending the conference came in first place in the Texas Trivia Challenge on information about Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda, beating teams from schools across Texas as the only team with a positive score in a “Jeopardy!”-format competition. HPU swept the competition in Personal Finance with Loudamy receiving first place, Harris receiving second place and Ryan Mason, junior from Houston, placing third.

“This is the first time that a team from one school swept the awards for Personal Finance,” Daub said.

HPU students won five additional awards. Harris placed third in Retail Management; Hannah Ball, May graduate from Justin, placed second in both Computer Applications and Project Management; Madelyn Deviney, junior from Bulverde, placed second in Entrepreneurship Concepts; and Vara placed second in Organizational Behavior and Leadership.

Phi Beta Lambda is the university level of Future Business Leaders of America.  State and national leadership conferences allow students to demonstrate their academic preparation and develop their leadership skills by competing against students from all over the state and nation in 55 different competitive events. These competitive events cover technology, public speaking, business, accounting, finance, economics, management, marketing and more.

Pictured: Students from HPU’s chapter of Phi Beta Lambda recently competed in the State Leadership Conference. Left to right: Adviser Mike Daub, Hannah Ball, Ryan Mason, Jessica Harris, Connor Vara, Madelyn Deviney and Jody Loudamy.