Indian River School District Students Qualify for National BPA Leadership Conference

Ten students from the Indian River School District have qualified for the Business Professionals of AmericaNational Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida on May 10-14.

Seven students from Indian River High School, and three from Sussex Central High School won this opportunity by presenting strong knowledge of 21st century business skills at the statewide competition. Skills they presented varied from interview skills, entrepreneurship, banking and finance, personal financial management and extemporaneous speaking.

The Indian River statewide winners now moving to the national competition are as follows:

Helen Davis: 1st Place – Interview Skills

David Clark: 1st Place – Presentation Management

Brooke Weaver: 1st Place – Entrepreneurship

Alexa Fitz: 2nd Place – Presentation Management

Michael Payan: 2nd Place – Prepared Speech

Hayden McWilliams: 2nd Place – Personal Financial Management

Andrew White: 4th Place – Personal Financial Management

Hayden McWilliams: 4th Place – Financial Math

Andrew White: 4th Place – Administrative Support Concepts

Qualifiers from Sussex Central High School and their placements in the state competition are as follows:

Andrew Evan :2nd place – Advanced Spreadsheet Applications

Andrew Evan: 2nd place – Extemporaneous Speaking

Thomas Bilinski: 4th place – Banking and Finance

Ashley Mooney: 5th place – Medical Office Procedures

Jeff Bunting, BPA chapter advisor for the district, said these students have worked very hard to get where they are.

“They’ve put so much effort into developing the skills that they have, and even though we’re a small school, these students take every opportunity to excel in their respective skills, and that’s what proved them to be champions,” Bunting said.

He also explained that even though the national competition can bring a lot of stress to the preparation of the event, they are very excited to put their skills to the test against the other state winners across the country.

“It’s a great opportunity for the students to network and engage with other students in business programs from all over, and to use the things they’ve learned in the most real business environment we can provide,” Bunting said.

Additionally, seven Indian River High School students were honored for their service to the community through BPA’s prestigious Torch Awards program. The Torch Awards program provides guidance and structure to BPA members as they develop their networking and leadership skills through service to their chapter and the community at large. Students completed activities in the seven Torch categories – Leadership; Service; Cooperation; Knowledge; Friendship; Love, Hope, Faith; and Patriotism.

Torch Awards are recognized at ether Diplomat of Statesman status, Statesman being the highest possible honor at the state level.

Winners of the Torch Awards are as follows:

Statesman

Kennedy Butch

Griffin McCormick

Diplomat

Bailey Willey

Hayden McWilliams

Brooke Weaver

Morgan Bartholomew

Michael Payan

Business Professionals of America is a national organization for middle school, high school and college students who are learning about business. The organization’s activities and programs complement classroom instruction by giving students practical experience through the application of skills learned at school.