The duo was part of an eight-student team that participated in the national conference after performing well at the Arizona PBL State Leadership Conference held this past April in Prescott.
Pasqual finished 10th in the Administrative Justice competition for CAC, scoring a spot in the Top 10 during an event that demands a high knowledge base in this business area.
Gutierrez captured 10th place in the Help Desk event – a performance-based competition involving a problem-identification scenario. Gutierrez applied her technology knowledge to meet the client’s needs by using troubleshooting and conflict resolution skills, all while demonstrating self-confidence, poise and good voice projection.
Professor Gayle Haro, CAC’s PBL chapter advisor, received the Outstanding PBL Advisor honor at the NLC for the state of Arizona.
In addition to Gutierrez and Pasqual, the CAC Business Academic Team members included Alysha Kulp (Casa Grande, AZ/Casa Grande Union), Brendin Bair (Casa Grande, AZ/Casa Grande Union), Christian Collette (Maricopa, AZ/Maricopa), Gerardo Lona (Coolidge, AZ/Coolidge), Marquise Oaks (Coolidge, AZ/Coolidge) and Kenneth Martinez (Casa Grande, AZ).
Jeff Babb, a CAC alum who earned honorable mention at the national event in the Entrepreneurship competition in 2010, finished second this year in the Networking Concepts competition while representing Utah Valley University.
The Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL) is the largest and oldest student business organization.
The organization witnessed more than 1700 students converge on San Antonio for its National Leadership Conference, an event designed to help students sharpen their core business skills, expand their networks, and participate in more than 55 business and business-related competitive events. PBL has more than 500 hundred chapters with over 11,000 thousand members.
“The experience of a trip like this can be life changing for students,” Haro said. “They are exposed to successful industry professionals, collaborative and compete with students from across the county, and begin to realize the potential they have in their career and personal life.”
The leadership conference competitions and activities were part of a comprehensive national program sponsored by FBLA-PBL that recognizes and rewards excellence in a broad range of business and career-related areas. For many students, the competitive events and activities are their academic career capstone learning projects.
In addition to the competitions, students immersed themselves in educational workshops, visited an information-packed exhibit hall with industry and business leaders and products, and attended motivational keynotes on a broad range of business topics.
The March of Dimes, a PBL community service partner, held a March for Babies Mini Walk during the conference, while professional dress was required of participants at all events.
Students listened to student candidates give speeches during the National Candidate Campaign Rally, while CAC’s student delegates - Gutierrez and Martinez - cast their votes for the 2012-13 PBL national officers.
State as well as regional (Western) meetings were held in conjunction with the conference to discuss accomplishments and challenges while providing state chapter reports. Bair, CAC’s current PBL state vice president, provided the report for the Arizona Chapter.
The conference concluded with an Awards of Excellence event that featured keynote speaker Dr. Randal Pinkett, founder, chairman and CEP of BCT Partners, a multimillion-dollar consulting firm that specializes in information technology, organizational development and public policy. He is most recognized as the winner of Donald Trump’s NBC’s hit television show The Apprentice.
The FBLA-PBL is headquartered in Reston, Va., just outside Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.fbla-pbl.org.
The CAC Business Club includes both Collegiate DECA as well as PBL Chapters memberships. For more information, please visit the website at: http://www.centralaz.edu/Home/Academics/Divisions_and_Programs/Business_Division/Business_Club_-_PBLCollegiate_DECA.htm.
