Accounting Student Nabs First Place at National Business Competition

Published: July 06, 2015 | Author: Thomas Ybarra | Read Time: 2 minutes

Southern Utah University’s School of Business motto is “is to combine a quality education and a superior classroom experience” and its business students are proving that motto true by placing among the top students in the 2015 Phi Beta Lambda National competition.

The Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) National Leadership conference was held on June 24-27 in Chicago, Illinois and participants hailed from across the United States. More than 1,600 of America’s best students were tested on their talents as business leaders to win more than $81,000 in cash awards. 17 students represented SUU, and five walked away with top cash prizes, among those were Tyler Edgel, accounting major and first place winner.

Edgel, a Las Vegas native, competed in the Accounting for Professionals category. With judges rating his performance, Edgel earned first place on the state and the national level to ultimately win $1,200.

With the combination of his production performance and his written knowledge test, Edgel earned the highest honor in the nation as the number one student in the Accounting for Professionals category.

Dean of the School of Business, Carl Templin, and faculty advisor of the Phi Beta Lambda Chapter at SUU, said of Edgel’s win, “All the students competing take the knowledge and the skills they learned in the classroom and either test or perform what they’ve learned.”

Templin explains that there is no outside preparation for these students competing and it all stemmed from professor’s teaching in the classroom.

While Edgel is grateful for his experience at the Phi Beta Lambda National competition, he says he couldn’t have done it without the help of his professors.

“My first place win is a highlight of my skills taught to me by the amazing professors and staff in the business department at SUU,” Edgel explains. He wanted to personally acknowledge Dean Templin, and professors Joe Baker, Brandon Armstrong, Mary Pearson and a whole plethora of faculty in the School of Business.

Students from Utah as a whole did well at nationals and placed in about 50 percent of the categories competed in. With 17 students competing in individual and team competitions on the state level from SUU, 12 students qualified for nationals in 19 competition categories across individual and team challenges.

Alongside Edgel’s individual first place national win were SUU teams that placed in the top in several categories. Ian Pierce, a computer science major, and Kelsey Haddox, a graphic design major, took third place in Mobile Application Development, which carried a $100 prize. Edgel alongside Brant Parker, a finance major, took fourth place in Forensic Accounting.  Parker also took fourth place in Financial Services. Jacob Amundsen, graphic design major, and Haddox took seventh place in Desktop Publishing.

“The results of the Phi Beta Lambda Leadership Conference is a testament to the dedication and exemplary work of SUU’s Business Department’s faculty and staff,” said Templin.

Photo credit: taken by Kelsey Haddox of Tyler Edgel receiving fourth place in forensic accounting, who also placed first in accounting for professionals, at the 2015 PBL competition.

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