Next Thursday, Business Professionals of America will depart to Wichita, where individuals and groups will compete at the State Leadership Conference with hopes of qualifying for Nationals, held in Boston, this May.

“They compete in two events, and that’s a huge list–I think 50 events they can choose from, and they compete against clubs throughout the state,” BPA sponsor Paige McCarthy said.

Before leaving for the conference, members both prepared themselves and volunteered their time.

“I require that they volunteer twice in the [Tribe Pride] store before can they compete in the state [competition],” McCarthy said. “I just want them to volunteer some time to earn the money that the CTE department invests in them.”

After success at State last year, the club has high hopes for success.

“Last year, we did really well at Nationals,” club president and senior Emma Devane said. “We had four different, like, events that we had a group or individual in the top ten at Nationals.”

The competing groups and individuals have been working together to prepare for the conference the past two months.

“This is my first year in BPA, so this is all new to me,” senior Bryan Armbrust said. “Luckily there has been a lot of other people in the club that have gone to state, so they’ve been a great help.”

For the conference, many groups were given prompts ahead of time so they could construct a presentation. Others will be given prompts or tests on site, where they will have a set time to complete their event. One completely onsite event includes financial management.

“We’ve been taking some practice tests,” financial management team member and senior John Benfer said, “but we are given a prompt and then we analyze a company and then give a proposal or a recommendation to the judges.”

For some past competitors, having the opportunity to go on to compete Nationally is something they look forward to this year.

“I think one of the best parts about [BPA] is being able to go to nationals and being able to go on the trip with some of your friends,” Devane said. “You get to, not only do your competition and everything, [but] you have multiple days to go to the beach and go to Disneyland and hang out with everybody. [Last year’s Nationals] was fun.”