“This is a culmination of heart, desire and the determination of our students to say ‘Cerritos College does offer quality education’ and it’s a testament that we can compete with four year and UCs so I’m proud of everybody,” Business Professor Jerry Ramos said of his Phi Beta Lambda club chapter.

The Cerritos College chapter of Phi Beta Lambda competed in the State Business Leadership Conference in which several chapters from community colleges and UCs and CSUs across California compete and network.

The Conference was held in the Ontario Airport Hotel and Conference Center from March 27 – 29.

Many of the members participated in competitions for public speaking, marketing analysis and business law among others.

The club members competing were:

• Aldemar Sanchez

• Alex Martinez

• Anthony Gilmore

• Belen Lopez

• Bryan Enriquez

• Chris Brown

• Crystal Brosious

• David Cota

• Johanna Hernandez

• Jonathan Lam

• Kimberly Rios

• Olivia Rodriguez

• Patricia Quezada

• Roxanna Lopez

• Sana Khalid

• Sirena Holan

On Friday, March 27, the Phi Beta Lambda chapters were treated to a motivational speech by Keynote speaker Boris Burgarski, an entrepreneur and national public speaker with 20 years of experience.

Burgarski told the audience to never settle, to learn the difference between real success and imagined success.

“From just trying to get a business up, it’s challenge enough. I’ve hired the wrong people, I’ve had a CFOs who’ve robbed me, you name it. It’s been a ride, 10 companies and I’m still on my feet,” he said.

He added that his passion and his vision of greatness were the things that kept him going through the tough times and that it wasn’t about money but about doing something great.

He also had advice for students, “I’ve counseled a lot of students and the biggest problem they have is that they want to do everything and they want everything now. You really need to take the time to figure out what you’re passionate about and if you can start a career from it.”

Sana Khalid participated in the Miss Phi Beta Lambda competition in which women from different chapters competed to be crowned.

Each candidate was asked a series of trivia questions from PBL history and the March of Dimes, a partner of Phi Beta Lambda.

For the second portion, each contestant showcased their individual talents.

Khalid sang an original song which she wrote when she was going through tough times.

She said, “I really love performing, it’s really enjoyable for me. Usually I get nervous but I make sure to tell myself ‘have fun with this.’ “

Khalid said she enjoyed the camaraderie between the contestants as much as the contest.

Victor Chen, a PBL member from UC Berekely enjoyed the casual questions during the Mrs.PBL competition.

“I liked how they’re indirect and it really tested you. You really get to know the person almost, just by the way they respond,” he said.

Melissa Vasquez, of UC Riverside and one of the contestants in the pageant rapped the entire alphabet using words that started with each letter.

According to Vasquez, “I saw it on Youtube and I thought it’d be really fun to learn a rap, I’ve never rapped before.”

She enjoyed the challenge that performing the rap and how it allowed her to engage in new things.

Soon afterward, the Phi Beta Lambda members were busy studying for Saturday’s competitions. The club members stayed up until the late hours of the night.

The following members won awards:

• Sirena Holan won fifth place in business communications and management concepts
• Aldemar Sanchez placed third in Parliamentary Procedure and fifth in hospitality management with Roxanna Lopez and Johanna Hernandez
• Sana Khalid won fourth place in public speaking
• Olivia Rodriguez, fifth in accounting, fourth in accounting for professionals and analysis decision making
• Roxanna Lopez placed fifth in hospitality management and third in human resources management
• Johanna Hernandez placed third in human resources, fourth in retail management and fifth in hospitality management
• Belen Lopez, Bryan Enriques and Anthony Gilmore placed third in business law
• David Cota placed fifth in accounting analysis
• Kimberly Rios and Patricia Quezada placed second in marketing analysis & decision making
• Crysal Brosious won third place in human resources management
• Jonathan Lam won first place in information management and hospitality management, second placed in client services and networking concepts, and entrepreneurship concepts.

Belen Lopez and Bryan Enriquez competed in marketing analysis and decision in which they had to devise a plan to run an actual store.

“I don’t feel like we had any difficulties, I feel like I was just really excited to do it. I felt so passionate about the topic that [there] wasn’t enough time to present,” Lopez said.

Jonathan Lam, business major and two-year member of the club said, “I was speechless, I was like ‘oh my god’ it was amazing. This one, [Hospitality management] because I really put a lot of work into this one. This meant so much for me.”

He added, “The competitive events are great and it gives the students recognition for their resumes and for potential employers and it’s a great way to represent Cerritos College and show that we have students leaders who take time out of their weekend for their professional and personal development.”