Hard work paid off for four respiratory therapy students when they won the American Association for Respiratory Care’s national academic bowl in December.

Dale Benfield, Charity Ezell, Albert “Sonny” Glover and Sherry Whiteman competed in the “Sputum Bowl” in Orlando, Fla. during the AARC’s annual International Respiratory Congress. Glenda Pippin, program director for respiratory care, and Dr. Richard Saporito, director of post-secondary education for Franklin Technology Center, accompanied the students to the competition.

Pippin emphasized the importance of the team’s accomplishment, explaining that when the students include winning the national academic bowl on their resumes, “Anybody who is in the respiratory field is going to know exactly what that is.”

Potential employers have already contacted the students for interviews.

“[It] didn’t really sink in until we were walking out holding the trophy, and people were congratulating us. People gave us their business cards and said, ‘We’re hiring. Call us,'” Glover said.

The four students were chosen by their classmates to represent the respiratory therapy department. They met twice a week to study in the months leading up to the state competition last spring. Past graduates of the program returned to Southern to help the team prepare, practicing with a buzzer system similar to the one used in the competition,” Pippin said.

The team’s win at the state level simply continued a time-honored tradition; a trophy case in the Mills Anderson Justice Center is bulging with trophies taken home from the state competition over the last 10 years.

Speaking of Pippin, Benfield said, “She doesn’t leave without a trophy.

“Unless there’s a bowl to be won,” Glover said.

This year there was indeed a bowl to be won. Competing with top students from across the nation, the team claimed the title of National Champion, bringing home the highest honor. Benfield credited the team’s victory to the instruction they had received during their studies.

“This shows you the quality of the program at MSSU and Franklin Tech. We’re very well-prepared here,” he said. While the four no longer qualify to compete as students at the national level, they may return to the competition as professionals. They look forward to coaching and quizzing the next generation of students who will defend Southern’s title at the 2008 competition.