Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Fayette students shine at competition

A team of students representing the School of Business at Clayton College & State University recently won the first place award in the Joseph Bush Undergraduate Division of the case competition at the 2004 Society for Advancement of Management (SAM) International Conference in Baltimore.

This year's team was Merrie LaFrenier and Shawn Nelson, both seniors in the School of Business. LaFrenier graduated from Decatur High School and currently lives in Stockbridge. After working at Six Flags Over Georgia for six years in the Admissions Department, she developed an appreciation for business and changed her major from Dental Hygiene to Business Management. In addition to playing one year of soccer for Clayton State, she has also been an active member of SAM for two years and is a member of the Sigma Beta Delta International Honor Society for Business. She is currently majoring in management and will graduate in December, 2004.

Nelson graduated from Fayette County High School and currently resides in Fayetteville with her husband, Paul, and her daughter, Alexis. She has been a HOPE recipient for her entire college career, is an active member of SAM, and is also a member of the Sigma Beta Delta International Honor Society for Business. She is currently majoring in marketing and will graduate in May, 2004.

The case for the 2004 SAM Conference involved GlaxoSmithKline, one of the nation's largest suppliers of prescription drugs. Teams received the case approximately two months prior to the competition and then developed a 15-minute presentation to be presented to a panel of three judges hearing the case at the conference. Judging decisions were based on such variables as presentation skills, creativity of the team's ideas, and responses to questions asked by the judges.

"Shawn and Merrie worked very hard on the presentation and faced difficult competition," notes Dr. Michael Deis, the faculty advisor to the Clayton State SAM Chapter.

Clayton State students and faculty also gained additional regional and national recognition at the conference. Each of the students received a Regional Outstanding Student Award and Nelson was one of only 11 students to receive a National Outstanding Student Award. Deis, a resident of Newnan who is also Clayton State's 2003 Alice Smith Award Winner as the University's outstanding faculty member, was one of only five faculty advisors to receive an Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award at the Baltimore conference.

In addition to having the largest SAM chapter in the country, Clayton State's chapter continues to be one of the most active, receiving the first place SAM Campus Chapter Performance Program (CCPP) award for large chapters at the recent conference... and award the Clayton State Chapter also won in 2002. The CCPP Award recognizes chapters for practicing good management skills and was awarded based on the success of the Clayton State Chapter.

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