Last week, BPA club competed at the BPA State Leadership Conference with 21 people, with 14 advancing to Nationals 

“I feel like [it] went really well,” junior Rhys Phipps said. 

The conference was in Wichita at Friends University Thursday through Saturday. The club was accompanied by BPA Advisor Kristen Hopkins and CTE Department Head Chris Holborn. 

“We had a great time the past few days,” Hopkins said.

The State competition determines whether students get to advance to the National conference. The categories for open events students could participate in were Financial Math and Analysis Concepts, Computer Programming Concepts, Business Meeting Management Concepts, Digital Marketing Concepts, Parliamentary Procedure Concepts, Administrative Support Concepts, Information Technology Concepts, Digital Communication and Design and Management, Marketing, and Human Resource Concepts. They had a requirement that each student must partake in 2 or more events. 

“I gained experiences that helped me understand the business world a little better,” Phipps said.

Their opening session began the same day as their arrival on Thursday. After the opening, they competed from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. On Friday, their events lasted from 8 a.m. to noon. Students had some freetime that day, where they ate a fancy dinner. Later that night, there was a social event held for students as a way for them to relax from all the competition. The theme for the party was “Out of this world”. 

Activities included having a DJ, bounce houses and many board games such as “Connect 4.”

“[Our] events were scheduled from 7 [p.m.] to 9 [p.m.],” sophomore Claire Shamburg said. “We had to get up on our own and get our own meals by ourselves.”
Students also had to be in their business attire while at Friends university.

Finally on Saturday they had their awards sessions where they found out how they did during their events.

“It went really well for most of us,” Shamburg said. “I wish that we all could have made it to Nationals.”

To qualify for Nationals, students had to place in the top 5 in a tested event, top 3 in a judged event and top 2 in a team event. Seniors who placed during State won’t be able to compete in Nationals because of the date of Nationals aligning with graduation.

“Overall it was a very good trip,” Shamburg said. “We learned a lot and improved.”