Powder River Examiner -

By: Mercy Brost, BPA Reporter

Battling the winter storms, 24 members of the Business Professionals of America (BPA) chapter traveled to Baker for BPA Regionals on Monday, December 5th. A few others were fortunate enough to place well from the at home events and qualify for state although they were unable to make it to regionals. For this competition, students contested against each other in various events with the hopes of earning a spot at the state conference in the spring.

Senior President Lucinda Cain achieved several impressive placements in a variety of events including 4th in Integrated Office, 5th in Business Meeting Management, 3rd in Management Marketing/HR Concepts, and 4th in Medical Terminology Concepts. She also partnered with Senior Mercy Brost on the Small Business Management Team, earning them 1st in the event. Mercy also competed in other events, receiving 1st in Business Law & Ethics, 1st in Advanced Interview Skills, 4th in Digital Communication & Design Concepts, and 5th in Parli Pro Concepts.

Meanwhile, April Wood earned 1st in Advanced Accounting, 5th in Intermediate Word, and 6th in Parli Pro Concepts. For the Parli Pro Team, April Wood, Marcus Mader, Mia Mader, Rebecca Aye, and Kayleigh Opstedahl all teamed up and earned 1st place. Marcus Mader got 3rd in Prepared Speech and 3rd in Parli Pro Concepts. Additionally, Lauryn Billing received 4th in Intermediate Word, 1st in Health Leadership Special Topics, and 4th in Parli Pro Concepts.

Though they were not able to attend BPA Regionals, Sophie Irish and Alex Edwards competed in pre-submission events which earned Sophie 4th in Fundamental Word and Alex 3rd in Economic Research Individual.

Several juniors also participated in the competition this year. Kolton Turnbough got 2nd in Fundamental Accounting and 2nd in Economic Research Individual. Eli Heacock received 2nd in Advanced Accounting. Brandon Rogers got 4th in Advanced Accounting, and Josh Rasmussen got 5th in Advanced Accounting and 4th in Legal Office. Zeason Schaffer earned 4th in Advanced Word and 1st in Advanced Spreadsheet.

Cooper Zimmer received 3rd in Advanced Word and 3rd in Advanced Spreadsheet, Mia Mader got 6th in Advanced Word and 2nd in Advanced Spreadsheet, and Jaxon Bilbrey earned 5th in Basic Office. Matt Hansen placed 4th in Extemporaneous speech, which was just outside of automatic qualification but will likely compete in that event at State too.

Likewise, sophomores also gained impressive results with Maddie Zimmer earning 3rd in Advanced Accounting and 6th in Intermediate Word. Shyla Madsen earned 2nd in Basic Office and 5th in Health Administration Procedures. Rebecca Aye scored 6th in Advanced Office while Emory Gatlin earned 3rd in Health Administration Procedures. The sophomore duo of Emory Gatlin and Shyla Madsen also took a hard-earned first place finish in Administrative Support Team from a tough field!

For Freshman BPA members, Maggie Mader scored 5th in Fundamental Word and 5th in Administrative Support Concepts. Kayleigh Opstedahl earned 6th in Fundamental Word, 4th in Database Applications, and 3rd in Extemporaneous Speech. Sean Oylear achieved 4th in Fundamental Spreadsheet and 3rd in Project Management Concepts.

Middle School students were also allowed to compete in the BPA Regionals competition. Our Middle School Admin Support Team of Justin Aye, Kassie Hagedorn, and Eli Jurica took first place again this year, after sweeping regionals and state last year. Eli and Justin also took 2nd place in video production team. Justin accomplished several individual winning events as well, including 4th in Financial Literacy, 1st in Keyboarding Production, 1st in Spreadsheet Applications, and 2nd in Computer Literacy Concepts.

Eli Jurica also competed in several events which scored him 6th in Financial Literacy, 2nd in Keyboarding Production, 2nd in Spreadsheet Applications, 3rd in Digital Citizenship, and 1st in Computer Literacy Concepts. Kassie Hagedorn received 4th in Keyboarding Production, 3rd in Spreadsheet Applications, 4th in Digital Citizenship, 1st in Business Math Concepts, and 1st in Business Communication Skills. Whitney Hartman scored 2nd in Financial Literacy.

Emelyn Harper earned 5th in Financial Literacy, 6th in Keyboarding Production, and 4th in Spreadsheet Applications. Finally, Christian Oylear, Brock Gali, Emelyn Harper, and Whitney Hartman were also teamed up together to win 1st for the Presentation Management Team.

So many students have worked hard to make it to the BPA State Competition in the spring, with the hopes of also qualifying for BPA Nationals in Anaheim, California. Much appreciation goes out to our dedicated advisors Ms. Libby and Mrs. Hartman, and all who have supported the Broadus BPA chapter and we hope to continue to have your support at future events and fundraisers. We look forward to reporting more wins at future competitions as well.