The ISU Agricultural Business Club must be doing something right after their eighth time receiving the same national award.

For the eighth time in nine years, the club was named National Outstanding Chapter at the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association conference in Minneapolis in July.

“We haven’t won it for eight years in a row so that’s something we’re still excited to get,” said current club president Beth Pleggenkuhle. “It’s not really expected. I think we still have high hopes of getting it.”

The club attends the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association conference — a conference for professionals in the agriculture economics industry — every year. The conference allows students to not only show off their hard work but to network with companies, said Georgeanne Artz, assistant professor of economics.

As for what makes the club one of the best in the nation, it’s not just the monthly meetings, Pleggenkuhle said. It’s the club’s emphasis on networking and involvement with the industry’s professionals.

“I think our club just really focuses on allowing the students to network with a lot of the ag businesses that are in Iowa and the nationwide businesses,” Pleggenkuhle said. “We might stand above the others because we are so focused on our club members and giving them opportunities to meet companies in different ways, not just having them come talk to clubs.”

Artz agreed, saying that the way club meetings are designed gives members professional experience and insight into the professional world that will put them at an advantage in the job market.

“They do all kinds of things: professional activities, service activities. We have monthly meetings and we usually feature a speaker. Someone from the industry will come and speak,” Artz said. “I think it’s the volume of all the things they do and all the things they do on campus and what they do for the community. We’ve been fortunate to have the support of the industry.”

The more than 240 due-paying members of the Agricultural Business Club, who will get jobs anywhere from crop input to banking to insurance, will learn skills that will make them marketable, Pleggenkuhle said.

“A lot of people probably assume that we have so many members because it’s such a large major in the college — which does help, of course — but I think students actually gain a lot of helpful skills from it, Pleggenkuhle said. “Students really find a value in meeting companies and learning valuable tips that they will use once they graduate.”

Artz said that because of all of the committees within the club, students have a lot of opportunities for leadership.

Along with the National Outstanding Chapter Award, the Agricultural Business Club received the Creative Club Award for its system on recruiting new members.

Pleggenkuhle and Artz said that since membership wanes during the spring semester as students get busier with schoolwork, the club hosted a bring-a-non-member night where members were encouraged to bring a friend to the meeting. Non-members’ names were entered in a drawing and a handful of students received gift cards to local restaurants.

Members hoped to show the benefits of joining the club and speaking with industry leaders with this night.

“I definitely think the ones that are in the club are more outgoing than the ones that aren’t in the club,” Pleggenkuhle said.