JCJC’s PBL students earn national awards
Ellisville, MS – Four Jones County Junior College students attended the Phi Beta Lambda National Conference in Chicago, Illinois and returned with national honors. The network design team of Aaron Huff of Laurel, James Fuller of Prentiss and Robert Mullis of Petal placed 2nd in the nation, receiving a $100 cash award and trophies.
“I was very proud of our student’s accomplishments,” said JCJC PBL Adviser, David Ray. “We had two top ten winners and also a team to place 2nd in the nation by beating out over 25 other first place team winners from various states across the country. This is a testament to the hard work put forth by the students and their level of instruction here at Jones. These students worked hard to get to Chicago and to watch their efforts pay off as they received recognition among about 1,000 of their peers is very rewarding.”
Additionally, Aaron Huff placed 7th in Cybersecurity and James Fuller placed 9th in Network Concepts at the national competition. Brandon McInnis of Hattiesburg competed in the Future Business Executive category but was unable to place in the top ten. Each of the four JCJC students placed first or second in the state PBL conference in March to qualify for the national competition in June.
“The experiences we had in Chicago not only benefited me as a student, but as a person. The opportunities to expand not only my knowledge, but also my association with some of the brightest students in the nation will forever push me to be the best I can in my field,” said Fuller.
Also recognized at the conference was JCJC’s PBL advisor David Ray, who was awarded Mississippi’s PBL adviser of the year. Ray assists at the PBL state and national conferences by working and/or organizing different competitive events. He also organizes and oversees the Southern District FBLA conference at Jones hosts each year, in addition to his responsibilities as the student’s PBL adviser.
“I am very humbled by the award. There are many outstanding advisers in the state, so to be selected out of this group of Mississippi PBL advisers is definitely an honor,” said Ray.
He added he enjoyed attending the national conference because the energy level of the thousand, young, future entrepreneurs gathering to compete in various business events was very exciting to witness.
Story written by Teresa McCreery, JCJC Media & Public Relations Director
