The Concord University Division of Business hosted the 20th Annual Concord Business Challenge (CBC) on Oct. 24. Eighteen West Virginia and Virginia high schools participated with approximately 400 students competing for scholarships and other awards.
Dr. Susan Robinett, division chairperson, announced the winners. Overall winners are: Greenbrier East High School, first place; Shady Spring High School, second place; and Bland High School, third place. This is the second consecutive year Greenbrier East has won the first place trophy.
Joseph Schrettner from Greenbrier East High School and Ben Carlisle from Graham High School won scholarships to Concord University.
“The purpose of the CBC is to encourage students to excel in business subjects while in high school, better preparing them for the real world and for higher education challenges,” Dr. Robinett said.
“Those who place in our contests leave here with another distinction that can be added to their resumes and this helps to build confidence. We also enjoy seeing the pride on the faces of our academic achievement contest winners when they see how well they have done on our exams. The schools producing the best results are awarded the title of first, second or third place winners of the CBC and this helps the schools to demonstrate their programs’ excellence in the state,” she said.
Locally, individual winners listed by school are: (Teachers and counselors are listed after the school name in parentheses.)
Greenbrier East – Lewisburg: (Kristi Haddox, Tiffany McMahan, Dalen Whitt): Joseph Schrettner, scholarship; Marisha Carpenter, 1st place, business finance and 2nd place, CBC logo and slogan; Nick Helmick, 1st place, current business events; Karee Diem, 2nd place, Microsoft Office concepts; Monte Overholtzer, 2nd place, accounting; Walker Dent, 3rd place, business mathematics; and Joseph Sampson, 3rd place, economics
Monroe County Tech Center – Lindside: (Malany McPherson): Heather Blankenship, 1st place, accounting; Jacob Carden, 3rd place, CBC logo and slogan; Chloe Meadows, 3rd place, current business events; and, Rachel Watson, 3rd place, business law
Also participating locally were: Greenbrier West – Charmco (Norma Cole, Robin McQuain).
Dr. Kendra Boggess, Concord University interim president, welcomed participants to the competition and participated in the awards ceremony. Division of Business faculty and staff participating in the CBC, along with Dr. Robinett, were: Mrs. Bonnie Brown, event coordinator and academic program associate; Dr. Muhammad Islam, professor of finance; Dr. Cindi Khanlarian, associate professor of accounting; Dr. Johnnie Linn, III, assistant professor of economics; Dr. Fred Davidson, associate professor of management; Mr. Tom Shelton, instructor of accounting; Mrs. Diane Belcher, adjunct instructor, business general; and, Mr. Don Rieley, adjunct instructor, marketing.
Dr. Davidson presented “Entrepreneurial Initiative at Concord University and in West Virginia” during the teachers and counselors seminar. He gave the presentation on behalf of Dr. Mohan Pokharel, Shott Distinguished Chair of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and assistant professor of management.
Eight Concord University business students also assisted during the competition.