SFSC students place top 10 at National PBL Competition | News

South Florida State College (SFSC) students Eric Bautista and Orvanel Valdez recently represented SFSC at the Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) Future Business Leaders of America National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas, June 23-27, where they placed eighth in the nation in the Financial Services event.

Bautista, from Frostproof, and Valdez, from Arcadia, were the only Florida team to make it to the final round of PBL's Financial Services event in which teams were given a case study problem, had 20 minutes to prepare a presentation, and then presented their financial services recommendations to a panel of judges.

"I would have never pictured myself attending a national competition or even scoring in the top ten with my partner," said Bautista. "The business and life skills I have attained through PBL have empowered me and helped me see that my educational and career goals can be closer than I thought and that I can accomplish more than I imagined."

"The fact that my partner and I qualified for the nation's top ten in financial services has made me realize that I am capable of so much more than I give myself credit for," said Valdez. "Being involved in PBL has not only made me a wiser individual but it has helped me view life in a different way. I realize now that in life you should never settle but push yourself to your limit in order achieve your goals, and when you accomplish all of those goals, then you should make new ones."

Bautista will attend the University of South Florida (USF) in the fall and major in finance or international business. Valdez plans to earn his Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Supervision and Management from SFSC. Both graduated from SFSC with their associate's degrees in May.

PBL is the post-secondary division of the Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda (FBLA-PBL) organization, which is the largest business career student organization in the world. 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.