Phi Beta Lambda students win in national competition
Two Phi Beta Lambda students at Palm Beach State College, who had already won state awards earlier this year, have now succeeded at the national level.
Patreace Scharschmidt and Joshua Deese won first place and sixth place, respectively, in the Entrepreneurship Concepts contest, which involved a 60-minute objective test on various business competencies administered during the recent Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference in Baltimore June 23-26. The conference drew 1,800 college students who participated in 60 business and business-related competitive events for an opportunity to win $110,000 in cash awards. The number of winners in each competitive event varied from three to 10.
Scharschmidt and Deese each received a trophy, and Scharschmidt also won $1,200 for her first-place win. Phi Beta Lambda is the collegiate division of Future Business Leaders of America.
“Being able to represent Palm Beach State College at nationals has been the highlight of my academic career,” Scharschmidt said. “I am very grateful for the opportunity and humbled to have placed first . This shows that hard work does pay off.”
Dr. Roger Blair, PBL advisor and bachelor’s degree department chair, said he is pleased with the students’ performance. “Patreace and Joshua have demonstrated Palm Beach State College’s high standard of business and entrepreneurship education,” he said.
Deese, who was active in Future Business Leaders of America as a youth, said he appreciates Blair and PBSC for providing such opportunities for students. “The conference was an incredible experience. It made me go back to my middle school days of being in FBLA.”
Scharschmidt, an aspiring lawyer who graduated in May with her Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Supervision and Management with a concentration in entrepreneurship, and Deese who is pursuing an A.A. degree, advanced to the national level after winning top awards at the Phi Beta Lambda state competition in March. In that competition, Scharschmidt won first-place in the Entrepreneurship Concepts, Management Concepts and Retail Management categories. Deese won second-place in the Entrepreneurship Concepts category.
Watch the video of their award ceremony.
So awesome! Congratulations Patreace and Deese!
Many kudos to both Ms. Scharschmidt and Mr. Deese! I used to be very active in the Entrepreneurial and Venture business community (up in NY) and understand the effort and rigors that go into competing in such events, let alone winning! For what its worth, I want to extend an invitation to both Ms. Scharschmidt and Mr. Deese to seek me out for business networking, mentoring, etc. I am happy to help them both in their go-forward pursuits! I am a former global partner with Arthur Andersen and have a fairly extensive business network throughout the US. I currently work as the Director of Project Management in the PBSC IT department..
Congratulations Patreace and Joshua! Proud of you both.