Eight months of Friday night and weekend study sessions paid off in a big way for human resource students at California State University, Stanislaus.

Nine students passed a grueling professional exam, and a student team earned a bronze medal at the Feb. 28 state championships, advancing the Stanislaus team to next month's regional human resource competition.

"Everyone was rooting for Stanislaus," said Ed Hernandez, associate professor of Human Resource Management at Stanislaus State. "We came out of nowhere. Nobody expected us to do that."

Last year, Hernandez watched the Stan State team get trounced at the same competition.

The beating motivated him to step it up this year.

Stanislaus took third in "Jeopardy!"-style head-to-head team competition at the California State University HR Games.

Hernandez said Stan State "destroyed" first-place team San Jose State in a practice match the week before, 18,900 points to San Jose's negative 1,900 points.

"It's a monster pride issue to have an academic program do well," he said.

Stanislaus State, San Jose State and Fresno State each had a chance at the state title, with records of 6-1 at the event in Pomona. Tie breakers left San Jose in first and Fresno in second. Stanislaus fought Pomona State for the bronze and an invitation to the Pacific Western Regional HR Collegiate Competition in Portland, Ore., April 2 and 3.

"After each round, we would find our muscles felt so tense," said 42-year-old Cindy Canfield of Manteca. The single mom served as one of Stanislaus' team captains. "It was exhausting," she said.

In half-hour matches, teams ask questions and students ring in to answer within five seconds. Points are gained and lost, similar to the game show. Questions cover all aspects of human relations. For example: What is the law that covers a union's right to organize? The National Labor Relations Act.

"It was basically up and down and up and down until the last second," Hernandez said. "They had a 500-point lead with 30 seconds left. There was one question worth 800 points and we got it."

The question: What is the feeling you get when you are able to learn something from training? The answer: self-efficacy.

Similar in difficulty to the CPA exam

Hernandez is the only human resources faculty member at Stanislaus, whereas Pomona has 32, he said.

At the HR Games, students' travel, food and lodging was paid for in large part by a $1,000 donation from Duncan Reno, chief operating officer of Del Rio Country Club, Hernandez said.

Schools normally use the competition to prepare for the professional exam, but Hernandez decided to prepare students for the exam first.

"By default it prepares them for the competition," he said.

So far, nine students have passed what's known as the PHR exam, a Professional in Human Resources exam -- the highest level of professional certification obtainable in the human resource management field. It's something like the CPA exam is for accountants, and "just as difficult," Hernandez said.

More often, graduates with five years' work experience take the test, he said. Hernandez expects more students to pass as they get their test results.

To help students prepare, 38-year-old Hernandez gave them study packets, and fed them fruit, vegetables, sandwiches and pizza during intensive three-hour study sessions on weekends.

He said it helped that he's single and has extra time on his hands, though he admits it was tough on his pocketbook.

At times, as many as 30 students showed up at voluntary study sessions, he said. Part of their motivation, he said, is the impression employers have that students from larger schools are better-qualified.

"They know they have to do something above and beyond," he said. "This is the way that you can get the attention of Bay Area employers."

Hernandez noted that last year the top-ranked university for student success on the certification exam was Penn State, with nine students passing.

"There's no other university in the country that's matching our numbers right now," he said. "There's some very, very large universities around the country who are trying to get their students to pass that exam, and they're failing miserably."

Stanislaus students who have passed the exam are Allison Liddle, Jill Matthews, Mark Andrew, Sam Morris, Randy Bernal, Cindy Canfield, Kevin Van Dewark, Joada Brenton and Bryce Jones.

Students who competed at the state event included Jennifer Puhlman and Leonard Arsanos of Turlock, Wendy Alvares and Brenton of Atwater, Kendy Hernandez of Livingston, Canfield and Shirene Erickson of Manteca, Yvette Mejia of Modesto, Julia Gasca of Delhi, Dina Wims of Ceres and Maribel Manzo of Riverbank.