Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.--Two current students and one recent Mississippi State graduate were among 2015 participants at an annual gathering of the world's oldest and largest business career student organization.

Senior Jarmel R. Lewis of Manteo, North Carolina, and sophomore Heather L. Yost of Franklin, Tennessee, recently represented the university at the Phi Beta Lambda National Leadership Conference in Chicago. Lewis is a political science/pre-law major, while Yost is a business administration major.

They were joined by Alicia M. Ward of Amory, a May cum laude business administration graduate. In student competition that is part of the conference program, she received a third-place award of excellence in the human resource management category.

Lewis competed in the justice administration category; Yost, the statistical analysis category.

Mississippi State's campus chapter is sponsored by the College of Education's Department of Instructional Systems and Workforce Development.

Vicki Keel, Instructional Systems and Workforce Development instructor and PBL chapter adviser, accompanied the students to Chicago.

According to Keel, the three university students first competed during the school year at state leadership conferences, from which top winners are eligible to attend the national conference held each summer.

"We are so proud of the accomplishments of these students both at the state level and the national level," Keel said.

Founded nearly 80 years ago, Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda is a nonprofit association of a quarter-million members and advisers in more than 6,500 middle school-higher education chapters worldwide. Membership is open to any full-time student enrolled in at least one business or education class. For more about the Reston, Virginia-based organization, visit www.fbla-pbl.org.

"Step Up to the Challenge" was the theme for this year's gathering of more than 1,600 students. Participants also attended educational workshops and were provided numerous opportunities to enhance their business and networking skills through meetings with current professionals.

MSU, the state's flagship research institution, is online at msstate.edu, meridian.msstate.edu, facebook.com/msstate, instagram.com/msstate and twitter.com/msstate, using hashtag #WeRingTrue.