Business Professionals of America qualified 22 students for the national competition at the state leadership conference in Wichita, Kansas, on Feb. 19-21.
“Definitely improved very much. I got more experienced and I got used to it,” National qualifier Olivia Moon, sophomore, said.
Students participated in many categories from Small Business Management, Health Research Presentation, Interview Skills, Podcast Promotion, HR Management, User Experience Design team, Fundamental Accounting and Intermediate Word.
“Fundamental Accounting and Intermediate Word,” senior, first place national qualifier, Erica Li said. “I did not place in accounting because it’s really competitive. Intermediate word is where I got first.”
Students who attended the conference were given the chance to participate in some fun activities, too.
“The silent disco was the social but we also did trivia,” Li said. “This advisor from Blue Valley created a trivia game night where we can all come together and win prizes. But also we all walked around, within a mile or so radius, and went to restaurants all day together.”
Students began to prepare for their events through Christmas break by working on presentations and speeches.
“We shouldn’t have procrastinated, but we had already done this last year, and we placed fourth,” senior president Wrenn Burton said. “So we were like ‘Okay, we kind of know what to expect’ and how much time to kind of allocate to it.”
Those who did not qualify are looking to improve for next year. Seniors are also taking time to reflect and advise underclassmen as well.
“I would say practice your presentation a lot,” BPA treasurer Evan Jackson, senior, said. “For me, I spent a little too much time constructing it and not actually presenting it, and that’s probably why I didn’t make it to nationals.”
Those who qualified to Nationals will attend the national conference in Nashville, Tennessee, May 6-10.
“Basically you’d present your same thing, but it’s competing with all 50 states, not just Kansas, so it’s a lot more competitive,” vice president Lily Bahr, senior, said.
Results from State Leadership Conference:
Erica Li – State champion; Intermediate word
Dylan Spencer – State champion; Entrepreneurship
Avery Legleiter and Lexie Oehme – State champion; Website design team
Elizabeth Hernandez-Hullet – State champion; Fundamental desktop publishing
Viola Pakaste-Warner – State champion; Computer modeling
Dylan Spencer and Cameron Williams – State champion; Podcast production team
Lily Bahr and Wrenn Burton – 2nd place; Small business management
Aeden Gray – 2nd place; Intermediate word
Lily Bahr – 2nd place; Health research presentation
Kaleigh Kurtz – 2nd place; Medical coding
Brody Robinson, Isaac Espurvoa, and Taim Alabed – 2nd place; Video production team
Daniel Wei – 3rd place; Computer modeling
Owen Hull – 3rd place; Fundamental word
Lily Vu and Marc-Andre Burger – 3rd place; Economic research team
Lily Vu – 3rd place; Prepared speech
Olivia Moon and Palin Clark – 3rd place; User experience design team
Ava Cornell – 4th place; Prepared speech
Mikiyas Nouth, Nile Kelly Kuwata and Nolan O’Donnell – 5th place; Economic research team
Favian Gomez, Aeden Gray and Owen Hull – 5th place; Global marketing team
Ava Gary-Hernandez and Evan Jackson – 5th place; Podcast production team
Ethan Sirengo – 5th place; Digital media production
Daniel Wei – 6th place; Graphic design promotion
Ethan Sirengo – 8th place; Fundamental desktop publishing
Lydia Wassenberg – 10th place; Fundamental desktop publishing
Daniel Wei – Top 10; Digital communication and design concepts
Owen Hull – Top 10; Administrative support concepts
Nolan O’Donnell – Top 10; Financial math and analysis
