The Business Club, better known as Phi Beta Lambda, on campus put their smarts to the test on Friday, March 31 to Saturday, April 2 when they attended a leadership conference held at the Hyatt Regency in Garden Grove.

The Cerritos chapter of PBL is part of a larger student organization which caters to and benefits seeking knowledge or a career in business.

Arthur Hanney, PBL member and theatre major, who attended the conference proved victorious against the other colleges and universities in attendance when he took home a first place award, “I won for Public Speaking, I am really proud of that award because I beat out a big university and we’re a little community college that has a better education than some of the big universities. This was all done through PBL, the national organization. I won top in the state now I get to go to nationals and compete against everybody from all over the United States.”

The conference not only provided a platform for state colleges and universities to compete but to also attend workshops that could prove to be beneficial for any of those interested in starting or maintaining a business.

Lucio Ramirez, club president for PBL, said, “It was for a leadership conference that all PBL chapters get together, chapters from all over the state. From universities such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, UC Riverside, UC San Diego. We were one of the very few community colleges there, along with Diablo Valley College, and we competed in strategic events such as customer service, management, financial literacies, things like that.”

Jerry Ramos, business and administration professor and co-advisor to PBL, expresses his thoughts and feelings about the club and their accomplishments

“I’m so proud of everyone but of course I’m especially proud of those who walked away with recognition as in awards, this shows that Cerritos College does offer quality education and that we can compete, because at the conference, students competed in a myriad of different events and we competed against students from UC’s, meaning four year students.

“Our students competed against Cal State students, also many from other community colleges and to walk away with awards […] It’s a testimony that Cerritos offers quality education but also that our students dug really deep to learn, participate and practice in their field, they can compete. It means a lot.”

Competitive Events Specialist for PBL Kevin Touch states how himself and his fellow club members prepared in anticipation for the conference competitions, “What I do is coordinate with all the members to make sure that they compete in whatever events that benefit them, whatever is to their advantages, there is a wide range of events so I want them to do the best they can.

“I prepared for maybe two weeks beforehand and I chose events according to my major.”

Members also viewed the conference as very beneficial and informative.

Steven Espinosa, vice-president of PBL, states “A lot of good information was given during the workshops, we also had some guest speakers who were YouTubers, Gaby and Alison…”

Winners of areas of events and those who placed include:

Kevin Touch

Programming Concepts – First place

Computer Concepts – Second place

Arthur Hanney

Public Speaking – First place

Steve Espinoza

Public Speaking – Second place

Impromptu Speaking – Second place

Enrique Rodriguez

Networking Concepts – Second place

Briana Morales

Help Desk – Third place

Personal Finance – Third place

Michael Mosquera

Help Desk – Fourth place

Carlos Diaz-Soto and Jaime Hernandez

Name Tag Competition – Fourth place