MCC alumnus Williams earns national network components award

Published 9:00 am Friday, July 26, 2019

Recent Meridian Community College graduate Rhigel Williams captured first-place in Network Components at the Phi Beta Lambda national competition.

“It was unexpected,” Williams said. “But it still was pretty cool.”

Phi Beta Lambda is the college component of the Future Business Leaders of America – the largest career student business organization in the world. PBL is for college students and has more than 8,000 members and counts more than 350 chapters.

“These competitions are not only for two-year colleges like ours but four-year colleges and universities as well,” said Terry Cullum, MCC PBL-IST advisor. Williams noted that he and his MCC student colleagues battled against other students who placed in the top tiers in their state competitions as well.

“Over the years, our program has consistently placed in the Top 10 at the national leadership conference, and this year has been no different,” Cullum added.

Williams also garnered a third-place nod in the Cyber Security category. Last year, he won national fourth and fifth places. Still, he credits studying in MCC’s Computer Network Technology Program for giving him a firm foundation.

“What I learned at MCC definitely helped,” he added. Now working in his field, Williams is considering returning to college to earn his bachelor’s degree.

Other MCC winners from the PTL National competition include Anthony D’Angelo, third place in the Information Management category; and Henry Shumate, Aquila Ruffin and Homer Graham, ninth place in the Network Design Team.