Phi Beta Lambda finishes strong

By James Walls
Editor-in-Chief

Phi Beta Lambda [PBL] hosted several activities this spring semester, raising money for their state-wide and national competitions. Partnering with various groups such as the agricultural and theatre departments, they raised nearly $1000 through their fundraising events. However, not all of their activities have been fundraisers.

Photo contributed Phi Beta Lambda attended the state business competition in Columbia, Mo. on April 12, where four students qualified to compete in nationals.

Photo contributed
Phi Beta Lambda attended the state business competition in Columbia, Mo. on April 12, where four students qualified to compete in nationals.

Co-hosted events

During this semester, PBL has teamed up with the agricultural and theatre departments to host two fundraisers.

“It hasn’t been something that’s always been done, but it’s something we always look to try to do,” said Chris Fenske, business instructor and one of the sponsors for PBL. “We’re always welcome to new ideas from other organizations and to team up with them because it allows our students to team up with other students at Crowder and allows us to have more resources to make the project better.”

The first event this semester was called Daisy Doo, a cow-patty bingo game where PBL sold tickets per square on the field. Teaming up with the agricultural department, Fenske said it was a fun first attempt at the event, but due to cold weather did not receive much of a turnout. There is talk of moving the event to the fall semester, but that is still in consideration at this point.

The second event was with the theatre department where PBL cohosted a dinner theatre for the show Lend Me a Tenor on April 26. Those attending the dinner were required to make reservations beforehand in order for the organization to arrange for the food. According to Fenske, the event went well, with almost all who reserved spots in attendance.

“It was a good success,” said Fenske. “We had just under 80 participants and we hope to be able to do it again.”

Photo Contributed Children in the age group of 3-5 hunt for eggs during Phi Beta Lambda's annual Easter Egg Hunt that was held on April 19 on the Neosho campus..

Photo Contributed
Children in the age group of 3-5 hunt for eggs during Phi Beta Lambda’s annual Easter Egg Hunt that was held on April 19 on the Neosho campus..

Annual PBL events

For the past several years, PBL has hosted various events on campus, as well as attending regular competitions on state and national levels.

The Easter Egg Hunt is one of these events, which took place on April 19 this year. The event is open to children from ages 0-8, and made possible through donations from the local communities which allow the organization to give out candy and coupons to the children that attend. This year, around 350 children came to the event.

“[It] had a really big effect on me, only because I hadn’t been involved in a giant community event like that, and I got to experience members from all of our community,” said Felicia Pogue, a general studies major and member of PBL. Pogue was in charge of leading one of the age groups to their hunting spot, as well as running a prize table during the event.

Other events include helping in the high school business contest hosted by the business department, as well as participating in the state-wide business competition, where winners can qualify to go onto the national level. This semester, four of the PBL members qualified to go on to nationals, including Madison McDonnell in Word Processing, Steven Babcock in Client Service, and Felicia Pogue and Jeremy Morris in Business Presentation.

“I got to meet people from schools all over Missouri,” said Pogue, relating her experience at the state-wide competition, “and the judges helped me with my experiences a lot, because they did give us really good feedback after our performance.”

The national business competition is a large conference where the four students will compete in the events they qualified for. The competition will take place in Nashville, Tenn. from June 24-28 of this year.