Concordia Leadership Teams Become National Champions in Collegiate Leadership Competition

On Thursday, April 13 and Saturday, April 15, Concordia’s leadership teams from the Paul H. and Mary Ann Koehler Department of Business participated in the national Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC) via Zoom. The two teams – made up of 12 students total - each competed in three challenges on Thursday and three challenges on Saturday placing first and second in the competition. 

“The Collegiate Leadership Competition (CLC) is designed to provide students a ‘practice field’ to grow and develop as leaders and followers,” said Professor of Business Administration Dr. Curt Beck. “Just like an athlete or musician will practice to get better, we believe that engagement in leader development is similar.” 

The CLC was founded in 2015 and conducts a national competition every April. Multiple in-person scrimmages are held by various universities prior to the April Zoom-based competition. 

Schools involved in this competition were the United States Air Force Acadamy, Kent State University, University of Toronto-Mississauga, University of Delaware, John Carrol University, University of Southern Maine, and more. There were a total of 25 teams competing in this year's CLC event. 

“CLC has changed my life in a way that is unimaginable,” said senior Ashley Gerczynski. “I have been doing this class for three years now and every year, I learn more about myself as a leader and as a follower. The relationships that are built in this class are lasting ones that we will hold on to as we enter our professional lives after college.” 

One of Concordia’s teams, Concordia Platinum, placed first with a total of 1066.5 points. This team includes Carlin Adams, Olivia Dunklau, Marc Freiberg II, Sydni Watson, Chloe Wells and Shelby Ziegler. Concordia Cobalt placed second with a total of 1022 points. This team includes Aubrey Baumann, Joel Baker, Ashley Gerczynski, Austin Jablonski, Camryn Opfer and Grace Reimer. 

“I am so proud of these students,” said Beck. “They have worked hard, overcome difficulties, developed high-level chemistry as a group and demonstrated spectacular strategic communication. One of the judges commented that Concordia’s teams were ‘ridiculously good’ at working together as a team. I would agree, our teams performed at an extremely high level.” 

Beck began teaching Concordia’s Leadership Skills and Development class in 2017. The Concordia 2022 teams finished in fifth and third place. The 2023 competition has been Concordia’s best finish thus far with a clean sweep of first and second place. 

“Dr. Beck has done an incredible job of teaching us what it means to be a leader and realistically what it means to be a Christ centered leader,” said Gerczynski. “I am extremely proud of the hard work and dedication of everyone to make up National Champions. Although that is an amazing title, the biggest thing I will take with me is the memories we have created and the skills we have learned.” 

Interested in joining Concordia's leadership team? Learn more here.