By: Mercy Brost

Last week, 22 members of the Powder River County District High School BPA chapter competed in Billings at the state convention to hopefully earn a place at nationals.

Doing this is no easy feat, as well over 1,000 students from all over the state took part in the competition and events.

To gain a ticket to nationals, you must place in the top five of an individual event or top three of a team event.

Several of our students proudly walked the stage and gained awards in both individual and team events, with a large contingent earning a trip to nationals.

Marcus and Mia Mader, April Wood, Becca Aye and Kayleigh Opstedahl got 3rd in the Parliamentary Procedure Team. Emory Gatlin and Shyla Madsen placed 4th in the Administrative Support Team.

For individual events, Lucinda Cain earned 8th in Integrated Office Applications.

Becca Aye placed 9th in Advanced Office Systems and Procedures.

Shyla Madsen gained 8th place in Basic Office Systems and Procedures.

Mia Mader earned 8th place in Advanced Word Processing.

April Wood got 3rd place in Intermediate Word Processing and 9th place in Advanced Accounting.

Eli Heacock received 10th place in Advanced Accounting.

Mercy Brost earned 3rd place in Business Law and Ethics and 3rd in Management, Marketing and Human Resources Concepts.

Emory Gatlin placed 5th in Health Administration Procedures.

Alex Edwards received several awards including 2nd place in Management, Marketing and Human Resources Concepts, 4th place in Information Technology Concepts, and 3rd place in Computer Programming Concepts.

The top competitors from these events will have the opportunity to compete at nationals in Anaheim, California from April 25-30.