Awards and Honors: December 2023
A team of event management students from the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication won first place in the Professional Conference Management Association (PCMA) Global Student Competition on Dec. 6. Members of the PCMA winning team, pictured from left in the top row, Abby Hoag and Emma Jones. In the bottom row from left are Hailey Rivers, Bailey Faircloth and Katie McAlexander.
HIGH POINT, N.C., Dec. 14, 2023 – High Point University students, faculty and staff recently received the following academic and professional awards.
HPU Event Management Students Win Global Competition
A team of event management students from the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication won first place in the Professional Conference Management Association (PCMA) Global Student Competition on Dec. 6.
PCMA is granting the winning team an all-access scholarship to Convening Leaders 2024 in San Diego, California. The team members will present their event concept in front of an audience at the annual business conference, which will host more than 3,000 attendees from Jan. 7-10, 2024.
HPU’s winning team included seniors Katie McAlexander, Abby Hoag, Hailey Rivers, Bailey Faircloth and Emma Jones. A second HPU student team was a Top 5 finalist and included Kailey Wrege, Katie Messick, Cyd Lafore, Annika Waguespack and Ana Wein.
HPU was the only school that placed two teams among the five finalists selected by a task force of 12 PCMA members. The other finalists represented Temple University, George Washington University and Universidad Panamericana.
This was HPU’s first entry in the PCMA competition, which had a record number of submissions, said Dr. Brianna S. Clark, assistant professor of event management. The competition included 37 teams from North America, South America and Australia. Each team submitted proposals to share its understanding of the business events industry and introduce strategic concepts to expand the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the event concept and design.
“To have two teams from HPU be represented as the best globally was a remarkable statement of the time and dedication these students put into this project,” said Clark. “The achievement of having two teams as finalists and prevailing as an overall winner is a testament to the quality program that has been built at HPU. Not only are we recognized as the best event management program among festivals and live event industry professionals, but we are now considered one of the top programs preparing students for the business event industry.”
Dr. Jessica Wiitala, assistant professor of event management, said she was thrilled to see the incredible success of HPU’s event management seniors this year.
“Witnessing their development and collaboration by incorporating the skills they’ve learned from all the curriculum in the Event Management Program, pulling together their knowledge for this culminating project has been truly inspiring,” said Wiitala. “We take pride in teaching across all sectors of the event industry, preparing students for a broad range of events, and these recognitions truly demonstrate this.”
Students Soar in National Sales Challenge
Students from HPU’s Phillips School of Business recently placed second out of 30 schools from around the world in the 16th Annual National Sales Challenge (NSC) at William Paterson University in New Jersey.
Five HPU student members of the Professional Selling Club Competition Team competed against 130 students from 30 universities from the United States, Canada and China. Students competed in two separate events over three days: speed selling (a two-minute drill) and sales role play (a 15-minute one-on-one sales meeting with an executive).
Competing as a team in their first sales challenge were Tyler Rumsey, Kade Little, Graham Wesel, Shane Waleski and Zac Morris. Their combined score placed HPU second overall and set a new school record, said Larry Quinn, chair of the Department of Marketing and Sales, director of the Professional Selling Program and HPU’s Sales Professional in Residence.
“I am immensely proud of each team member who dedicated weeks of practice to learn professional selling skills and gain the self-confidence to compete on the national stage,” said Quinn.
The second-place award for University Sales Team Champion was presented to Rumsey and Little. Individual Top 10 honors were presented to Rumsey, a senior business administration major and psychology minor from Mahwah, New Jersey, who placed sixth in the National Sales Challenge and ninth in the sales role play challenge.
“Overall, this was one of the best experiences of my entire life,” said Rumsey. “I am so thankful that I had this opportunity to compete and to positively represent High Point University. I learned how to build/strengthen rapport with clients, identify client needs, handle objections in a professional manner and establish meaningful connections. This school has truly changed my life for the better, and as I am looking to start my career in sales, I know I am prepared.”
Little, a junior finance and sales major from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, said the entire team collaborated effectively and benefitted from valuable guidance Quinn provided.
“Participating in the National Sales Challenge has not only enhanced my understanding of effective sales strategies but has also developed my ability to think on my feet and handle real-world sales scenarios with confidence,” he said.
Wesel, a junior finance major from Concord, Massachusetts, won an individual Top 10 honor for the speed selling event. He said he knew the HPU team was well-prepared going into the challenge because Quinn was their coach and mentor.
“Every other coach at the event had to come over and tell us how lucky we were to have him as our mentor,” said Wesel. “With countless hours of preparation, we as a team put maximum effort into the endeavor. When our efforts were realized at the end of the event, it was surreal that we as a team from a small school could not only compete but succeed on a national stage.”
HPU STEMtastic Adventures Win Statewide Award
HPU’s Stout School of Education and its educational partners were recipients of a three-year $180,000 grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s 2023 Student STEM Enrichment Program (SSEP). The program was created nearly 30 years ago to empower and inspire North Carolina students to pursue excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through activities taking place outside of the traditional classroom schedule.
“This is the first time HPU has applied for the award,” said Dr. Amy Holcombe, dean of the Stout School of Education.
The 2023 recipients were chosen from a competitive pool of applicants from across North Carolina.
“I am so pleased the High Point Stout School of Education applied for this prestigious Burroughs Wellcome Fund 2023 Student STEM Enrichment Program (SSEP) in partnership with Guilford County Schools,” said Dr. Anitra Wells, Guilford County Schools deputy superintendent of instructional leadership, wellness and safety. “This will be a great opportunity for our students to gain access to additional STEM programming and for our teachers to gain additional professional learning. It’s a win-win situation.”
As recipients of the 2023 SSEP, the Stout School of Education faculty, in partnership with the Wanek School of Natural Sciences, Nido and Mariana Qubein Children’s Museum, Guilford County Schools and HPU Educator in Residence Steve Spangler, will be able to provide elementary aged students and their teachers with access to STEM programming, weekly experiments, webinars, science kits, afterschool clubs, STEM in the home, field trips and summer camps. In addition, elementary teachers will be able to attend Spangler’s Science in the Rockies, which is held each June in Denver, Colorado.
“This partnership brings together HPU students, educators, researchers and scientists to instill a love of STEM learning in elementary aged students,” said Holcombe. “STEMtastic adventures will inspire learners to be inquisitive about the world around them, confident in their ability to be successful in science and mathematics and to pursue careers in STEM fields.”
The five local elementary schools that will participate are:
- Fairview Elementary
- Montlieu Academy of Technology
- Kirkman Park Elementary
- Union Hill Elementary
- Triangle Lake Montessori
“The Burroughs Wellcome Fund is committed to nurturing the next generation of STEM leaders and innovators,” said Alfred Mays.
Since the program’s inception in 1996, BWF has awarded 275 grants totaling $41.4 million to 130 organizations. The program’s goals include:
- Improving students’ competence in science and mathematics
- Nurturing students’ enthusiasm for science and mathematics
- Increasing students’ interest in pursuing careers in research or other science-related areas
- Preparing educators to support STEM learning outside of the classroom.
Students Win Sport Management Award
HPU sport management students recently won first place in the Sport Entertainment & Venues of Tomorrow (SEVT) case study competition on Nov. 8 in Columbia, South Carolina.
The HPU students who participated are Annie Borovskiy, Vinnie Cafiso, Halle Nichols and Jessie Rall. Each team made a presentation in under 15 minutes, followed by approximately five minutes of questions from the judges.
“This is a combination of academic and industry content,” said Dr. Tim Koba, assistant professor of sport management. “While there, the students were able to meet with many professionals and even set up job interviews. Their strong showing elevated the reputation of HPU and has led to additional networking opportunities for the students involved.”
Being part of the SEVT case study team was one of her most rewarding experiences at HPU, said Borovskiy, a senior sport management major from Langhorne, Pennsylvania. She feels grateful to the HPU Sport Management Department and Dr. Koba for providing these opportunities.
“I thoroughly enjoy the creativity of collaborating on case studies with my teammates and researching elements of sport organizations and the sport industry,” said Borovskiy. “These experiences have allowed me to make so many connections in the industry. I am happy to say this conference has landed me a position as an Inside Sales Representative with BSE Global and the Brooklyn Nets.”
Being a member of the Sport Management Case Study Team that competed at SEVT was also a special experience for Nichols, a senior sport management major from Severna Park, Maryland.
“It was the sixth case study competition I have competed in with the university, and this was truly the strongest team,” said Nichols. “We all learned so much about sensory branding and the importance of this form of community connection within the sport management industry like Dr. Koba and all the university has taught me.”
Professor’s Children’s Book Promotes Reading
Dr. Sadie Leder Elder, an HPU associate professor of psychology, recently published a 32-page illustrated children’s book, titled “The Adventures of Boopers the Bad Cat.”
Within three weeks of publication, Elder reached her first goal of donating copies of the book to 50 Title I elementary schools in Guilford County. She is now focusing her book donation efforts on the goal of donating a copy of her book to each of the 410 public libraries in North Carolina.
“For over a decade, I have been engaged in volunteerism that promotes empowerment,” said Elder. “Doing something to support literacy and education in our community felt like a natural extension of my roles as an educator and civil leader.”
Elder and the book’s illustrator, Kathryn Cushwa Gerace of Ethel B Designs, expect to publish the second book in the Boopers the Bad Cat series in 2024. To learn more about the book and donation efforts to promote literacy, visit boopersthebadcat.com.