July 14, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Dakota State University.

Professional development, community service and national competitions are just a few of the ways the Phi Beta Lambda Club readies Dakota State University students for their futures.

“The students are spontaneous, they are responsible, they are smart, they are fun to work with,” said Dr. Yen-Ling Chang, PBL adviser and associate professor of finance. “I cannot say enough good things about my students. I just love them.”

Each academic year, members of the PBL Club organize fundraisers, participate in community service and set up events and activities for the year.

To help fund travel to competitions, club members partner with local businesses to sell Trojan cards that offer discounts throughout the year. This partnership requires the students to develop relationships with businesses in town, practice their communications skills and engage with the community, Chang said.

Additionally, each semester the group completes community service by having a blood drive. It brings the Bloodmobile to campus and encourages campus and community members to donate to the Community Blood Bank.

Throughout both semesters, PBL organizes and runs a virtual investment game open to all DSU students. This requires club members to determine how they want to conduct the game, which includes investment rules, awards and how to calculate individual performances, Chang explained.

Participants watch, learn and understand what happens in the stock market. The game is a great way to learn the market before investing with real money. Some of what students will come to understand includes terminology, how to conduct trades and how to read a company’s financial reports, Chang stated.

“We invite the whole DSU community to participate,” she said. “We just encourage people to learn about finance and personal investing.”

The goal of offering this game is to attract people of all majors and backgrounds. Chang finds this beneficial in both raising the awareness of PBL and helping others learn about investment in the stock market.

“When you are young, you should learn how to manage your own money, be responsible for what you spend and how you invest,” she said. “Those are the things I am hoping the students will be able to learn from virtual investment.”

Beyond running and potentially partaking in the investment game, PBL members are able to compete on the state and national level in areas such as insurance concepts, information management, marketing concepts and personal finance.

These competitions enable students to apply their classroom learning, which helps them evaluate what they have learned and reapply it in a different format. Students often compete in areas related to their majors.

Opportunities abound for students

Recent graduate AJ Schoenfelder, a computer science major, joined the club as a sophomore as a way to diversify his major in the business world.

“It also allowed me to apply the knowledge I gained in class to the competitions in PBL,” Schoenfelder said.

The state and national competitions each year include exams, interviews and presentations that test participants’ knowledge and skills.

“I competed in events related to my coursework, from programming and networking concepts to project management and statistical analysis,” Schoenfelder said.

In addition to competitions, he took on leadership positions in the club, including serving as the vice president of administration. He also enjoyed being able to travel to competitions — before the pandemic — and create lasting memories with his fellow club members.

“PBL exposed me to a myriad of scenarios and opportunities that prepared me well for a job after college,” Schoenfelder shared. “The exams solidified my knowledge, which I gained throughout my courses. Being an officer of the club allowed me to put in work that made a difference in the club and community, showing me different ways to handle a project for a group of people.”