Southwest Baptist University News Release
Contact: Sharina Smith, Office of Marketing & Communications
BOLIVAR, Mo. – Students from the Southwest Baptist University Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) Department laid claim to seven national top-ten awards at the recent Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) National Leadership Conference held in Orlando, Fla.
Josh Wood (senior, Eldon, Mo.) took the top spot in the nation in the Computer Concepts competition, which included $750 in prize money. Wood and Ryan Thomas (junior, Tulsa, Okla.) teamed up for third-place honors in Network Design. Luke Abbott (sophomore, Camdenton, Mo.) accepted the third place trophy in Game and Simulation Programming and Thomas snagged a sixth-place finish in Cybersecurity. Rounding out SBU’s efforts were the husband and wife team of Matt and Ashley Copeland (Bolivar, Mo.). Matt claimed seventh place in Database Management and Ashley took home the award for ninth in Network Concepts. Jacob Foster (sophomore, Webb City, Mo.) and Jacob Jakusz (sophomore, Theodosia, Mo.) were also national qualifiers and competed for Missouri and competed at the national event.
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Front Row (L/R): Ashley Copeland, Matt Copeland, Ryan Thomas Back Row (L/R): Dr. Tim DeClue, Josh Wood, Luke Abbott, Jason Jakusz, Jacob Foster |
“We are elated, of course,” said Dr. Tim DeClue, CIS Department Chair. “These awards are a real blessing. Receiving something like this on the national stage highlights the incredible quality of our students and our program. it puts an exclamation mark on the end of a great year, and it helps us get a running start on the beginning of the next. This is a really motivated group of students right now—they are ready to hit the ground running in the fall.”
PBL's National Awards Program recognizes and rewards excellence in a broad range of business and career-related areas. Through state-based competition at the spring State Leadership Conferences, students compete in events testing their business knowledge and skills. Top state winners then are eligible to compete for honors at the National Leadership Conference each summer.
PBL NATIONALS COMPLETE RESULTS
Results shown only for events in which SBU competed
Computer Concepts
1. Josh Wood, SBU, Missouri
2. Jared Griffin, Georgia
3. Hank Cox, North Carolina
4. Josh Crump, North Carolina
5. David Vail, New York
6. Brandon Staroscik, Nebraska
7. Shawn Solomon, Pennsylvania
8. Caleb Manac, Georgia
9. Jordi Lucero, Florida
10. Aaron Hudspeth, Missouri
Game and Simulation Programming
1. Sarah Van Horn, Wayne Community College, North Carolina
2. Jorge Paez, Gregory Vila, Alex Windelburg, Miami Dade College-Kendall Campus, Florida
3. Luke Abbott, SBU, Missouri
4. John Morrison, Taylor Wade, Wayne Community College, North Carolina
5. Michael Altschwager, Nathan Askow, Tyler Hackbarth, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Wisconsin
Network Design
1. Zachary Gibbs, Bryan Wiseman, East Central Community College, Mississippi
2. Kristie Benning, Ian Martin, Justin Merrill, Stevenson University, Maryland
3. Ryan Thomas, Josh Wood, SBU, Missouri
4. Jared Griffin, Caleb Manac Brian Sapp, Okefenokee Technical College, Georgia
5. Steve Dennis,La Vonne Doljac, Tyler Shumar, Laurel Business Institute, Pennsylvania
6. Dustin Martin, Jeff Sarac, Herzing University, Wisconsin
7. Logan Anderson, Sean Huggans, North Platte Community College, Nebraska
8. Dominic Campos, Drew Guarino, University of Central Florida, Florida
9. Michael Carver, Erik Ramsey, Wayne Community College, North Carolina
10. Nicholas Cook, Anthony Mazza, David Vail, Herkimer County Community College, New York
Cybersecurity
1. William Hand, Georgia
2. Eric Sassenfeld, Colorado
3. Aaron Hudspeth, Missouri
4. Ayaz Hemani, Florida
5. Jeffrey Babb, Utah
6. Ryan Thomas, SBU, Missouri
7. Terry Cullum, Mississippi
8. Erik Ramsey, North Carolina
9. Drew Guarino, Florida
10. Christopher Hart, North Carolina
Database Design and Application
1. Will Fogle, Nebraska
2. Nickolas Shaw, Maryland
3. Jake LaCombe, Missouri
4. Jordan Wharton, Maryland
5. Eden Pinkelman, Nebraska
6. Danny Adams, Arkansas
7. Matt Copeland, SBU, Missouri
8. Dominic Campos, Florida
9. Marie Schurter, Kansas
10. Matt Candy , Georgia
Network Concepts
1. William Hand, Georgia
2. Nathaniel Joseph, Georgia
3. Akhapone Singta, Utah
4. Jeremy Langford, Tennessee
5. Sean Huggans, Nebraska
6. Ayaz Hemani, Florida
7. Toni Williams, Georgia
8. Jerry Smith, Colorado
9. Ashley Copeland, SBU, Missouri
10. Laura Alonso, Florida
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PHOTO: Front Row (L/R): Ashley Copeland, Matt Copeland, Ryan Thomas
Back Row (L/R): Dr. Tim DeClue, Josh Wood, Luke Abbott, Jason Jakusz, Jacob Foster
Southwest Baptist University is a leader among private universities in truly integrating Christ-centered academic pursuits with comprehensive professional programs at an affordable price. At SBU, the faculty and staff create a caring, academic community to prepare students to be servant leaders in a global society. For more information, visit www.SBUniv.edu.
SBU’s Office of Marketing and Communications is available to news media 24 hours a day at (417) 399-7918.
