After months of preparation, Business Professionals of America members boarded a bus Thursday morning and headed toward the State Leadership Conference, held in Wichita, where they competed for their chance to qualify for Nationals this spring in Boston. For those who took tests, the top five scores moved on. For team events, the top two groups qualified. For individual judgings, the top three placings moved on. In the end, 21 of the 25 Manhattan High entries qualified for Nationals.

National qualifiers include:

Fundamental Accounting: senior Lexi Bieker (first place) and senior Josh Morse (third place)

Advanced accounting: seniors Collin Queal (first place), Suzanna Gevock (second place), Chloe Swanson-Lhuillier (third place) and Fatou Faburay (fifth place)

Payroll accounting: seniors Suzanna Gevock (second place), Josh Morse (fourth place)

Banking & Finance: seniors Mark Buckwalter (first place) and Collin Queal (third place)

Financial Analyst Team: seniors Emma Devane, Chloe Swanson-Lhuillier, John Benfer and Corbin Sedlacek (first place)

Personal Finance Management: Sophomore Lily Colburn (first place) and senior Jonathan Chen (third place)

Fundamental Word Processing: seniors Amanda Mack (first place) and Lexie Nichols (second place)

Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications: sophomore Stephanie Fu (first place)

Medical Office Procedures: sophomore Luann Jung (fifth place)

Administrative Support Team: sophomores Luann Jung and Stephanie Fu (first place)

Java Programming: senior Nabil Hossain (fifth place)

Advanced Interview Skills: seniors Emma Devane (first place) and Corbin Sedlacek (fourth place)

Extemporaneous Speech: sophomore Lily Colburn (first place)

Presentation Management Individual: seniors Mark Buckwalter (first place) and Maya Minocha (second place)

Presentation Management Team: seniors Bryan Armbrust, Brandon Religa, Isis Thornton-Saunders, Lexi Bieker (first place)

Others who placed, but did not qualify for nationals include:

Payroll Accounting: senior Lexie Nichols (10th place)

Human Resource Management: junior Dustin Wichman (sixth place)

Presentation Management Team: seniors Maya Minocha, Amanda Mack and Fatou Faburay (third place)