03/07/17
HAYS, Kan. -- A team of five organizational leadership majors from Fort Hays State University took first place at the recent Leadership Challenge Event at Washburn University, Topeka.

The team took first overall in the college division of the competition.

Team members were Jose Arias, Salina senior; Abby Baker, Parker, Colo., junior; Jacy Buchholz, Ogallah senior; FHSU Virtual College student Rachel Guillot, Salina senior; and Carlie Snethen, Ottawa senior.

Washburn's annual Leadership Challenge Event is a two-day event hosted by the university's Leadership Institute. The challenge, for high school as well as college and university students, presents competitors with a simulated situation in which the students face a series of problems and situations. The outcome depends on the leadership decisions the students make.

This year's challenge involved an epidemic striking the fictional city of Metropolis at about the same time as the centennial celebration of a local festival. The challenge was to determine whether the festival was the cause of the epidemic and decide whether to continue the festival or cancel it and lose the estimated $5 million in revenue.

Cutline: Left to right: Buchholz, Baker, Snethen, Guillot and Arias.