Dixie State Students Earn International Competition Bids at Utah State Career Development Conference

 Five Dixie State College of Utah business students recently took first place at the 2010 Utah State Delta Epsilon Chi (DEX) Career Development Competition held two weeks ago at Weber State University in Ogden. Those five students, along with six other DSC business students, earned the right to advance and compete at the 2010 International DEX Career Development Conference in Louisville, Ky., this April 17-20.  
 
Both annual conferences are a competitive forum for marketing students, specifically members of DEX, an international college level marketing club geared toward providing leadership and career-oriented opportunities to students.
 
Among the first-place winners was DSC student Tony Christensen, a senior from St. George, who claimed top honors in Financial Services. Four other first-place finishers won in team competition, including Melissa Cowles (Soph.; St. George) and Katie Bock (Soph.; Grand Junction, Colo.) in Business to Business Marketing, and Alan Ayala (Jr.; Santa Clara, Utah) and Brandon Staples (Sr.; Mesa, Ariz.) in Business Ethics.

In addition to her first-place win, Cowles placed second overall in the Restaurant & Food Service Management competition, as did J. Brock Jensen (Fr.; St. George) in Marketing Management. Four more students earned runner-up finishes in their respective competitions, including Jerry Jones (Soph.; St. George) and Ben Bybee (Jr.; St. George) in Business Law, and Stephen Campbell (Soph.; St. George) and Derek Leinbach (Soph.; Fruit Heights, Utah) in Web Site Design. One other DSC student, junior Robert Sinnott from Woodbridge, Va., medaled and advanced to the national competition in the Travel & Tourism competition. In all, 18 DSC students medaled in the competition, including seven finalist medal winners.

“This is the first time in my 31 years as advisor that everyone who competed earned a medal of some sort,” said DSC business department chair Dr. Phillip Lee. “This is also the largest number of first and second place finishes that we have ever earned. I am really proud of the students and feel this is a great indicator of the quality of the business program and students here at Dixie State College.”
 
In the state competition, students were judged primarily on their ability to analyze and come up with impromptu solutions to case studies. The competition consists of eighteen different categories. In order to qualify for internationals, students had to at least place in the top eight of their respective categories at the state level.
 
Approximately 2,200 students from across the country, along with representation from Puerto Rico and Canada, will take part in the international competition.