On May 9, students from all over the U.S. will descend on Orlando, Florida for six days to showcase their abilities with interviewing, spreadsheets, law, public speaking, and other business procedure know-how as the National Leadership Conference and competition for Business Professionals of America (BPA) heats up.

Among the 5,000 students who will be attending from 26 states and Puerto Rico, 19 will be from Mineral County. It’s the most student who qualified for Nationals in recent history and is a huge coup for the local chapters. Superior will be sending an astonishing 12 students, St. Regis six, and Alberton one.

Superior advisor, Jami Toivonen, said it’s the biggest group she’s had to make it to the National Leadership Conference in her nine years with the organization and it will be her first trip to the event. Chad Eichenlaub has been the St. Regis advisor for five years and took two students to Nationals in Boston last year (Madison Hill and Anna Sanford). The two will be attending again this year having placed first in Word Processing Skills and with the Small Business Management team.

Not only did a record number of students qualify for Nationals, but the Superior chapter also received the Spirit of Professionalism Award for excellence in performance and recruitment, as well as the Silver Star Chapter Award. Toivonen said the Spirit award could not have happened without the help of Eichenlaub. The two managed to recruit three chapters to join BPA: Drummond, Philipsburg, and Lincoln.

St. Regis also won the National Chapter Award for raising over $2,000 for Special Olympics, something the chapter consistently manages to do, having raised over $8,000 over the past four years. Special Olympics is a partner with BPA and St. Regis students raise the funds through change jars at local businesses, selling raffle tickets at home sporting events, and other activities.

The mission of Business Professionals of America is to foster the creation of a world-class workforce through the advancement of leadership, citizenship, academic and technological skills. There are more 43,000 BPA national members.

“The kids build on their skill level every year and we’re sending more kids to Nationals than ever before. There’s a real excitement within the program as they get better at competitions. The kids are in it to win it,” said Toivonen. “As they improve their skills every year, it’s getting them to State and now Nationals. The excitement is generating excitement among the younger kids. It’s definitely a peer-to-peer thing and not necessarily coming from us as advisors.”

“The advisors give guidance to the group, and the peers give the passion,” Superior senior, Taryn Ververis, who won first in Interview skills and fifth in Economic Research and Legal Office Procedures, said.

He also thanked the advisors for their hours of work to get them qualified for competition.

It takes hours and hours of dedication and commitment from the kids and the advisors to get ready for State and National competitions. One of the hardest categories is Parliamentary Procedures, where the Superior team of Nathan and Jacob Lapinski, Aidan Patko, Kaylee and Ryan Cahalin, and Kayli Schoolcraft took first place.

Nathan Lapinksi qualified for Nationals his freshman and junior year, but this is the first time he is able to attend. His younger brother, Jacob Lapinksi, is following in his footsteps having won fourth in Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications. Nathan Lapinski also received the Presidential Service Award for completing 500 volunteer hours. He volunteers for the Superior Fire Department and is helps with the department’s public relations.

“You learn real world applications like job interview skills, how to write technical papers, and public speaking,” Nathan Lapinksi, “it’s learning things you won’t get at any other club. You learn to be a good public speaker and develop professional skill for college and your career. And there are topics for pretty much any career.”

Jacob Lapinski, who plans on going into the medical field, said that his brother’s accomplishments were what got him interested in BPA.

“I saw how he was succeeding and I wanted to do that, as well,” he said.

There are eight regions in Montana, consisting of 102 chapters. Mineral County schools are a part of region two, which also includes Hellgate, Philipsburg, and Victor. It’s a small region, yet there are 31 students who qualified for Nationals.

“It’s pretty amazing to have so many from class C schools going,” said Eichenlaub, “they are coming in the top ten at Nationals and are competing against charter and private schools, large public schools, and these small rural schools are winning. They are learning how to compete in real world situations like in job interviews, graphic design skills, and parliamentary procedures.”

This year, the St. Regis Small Business Management has a good chance of winning at Nationals. The team placed first at State, beating out the Billings team which took first at Nationals last year in that category.

Oftentimes, as freshman the students are afraid to speak in front of a group but by their junior and senior years, they are more relaxed and feel more confident. Relationship building is also a big part of BPA. Ververis said he’s made a lot of close friends who are in their region, as well as people he’s met at State and now those he will meet at Nationals.

At regionals students compete against each other, but then at State, they are cheering each other on, Toivonen explained. Then, when they get to Nationals, 350 Montana students are cheering for each other, “it’s a pretty phenomenal experience,” said Eichenlaub.

In addition to fundraising activities, there are weekly meetings, time spent studying for their competition, along with researching and writing papers.

“It’s a great experience for them,” said Toivonen, “some of the students have never been on a plane, and some have never seen the ocean.”

“For many it’s a once in a lifetime experience. They get to eat at nice restaurants, and stay in nice hotels,” said Eichenlaub.

Chris Quinlian, who was a St. Regis student and now teaches at Superior, said he remembers going to Orlando when he was in BPA and that it was one of the highlights he had in high school.

Though it’s exciting to have 19 students go to Orlando, now comes another challenge for the group: how to raise enough money between now and May 9 for plane tickets, hotel reservations, meals, registrations, and other activities.

“We need to make our reservations now,” said Eichenlaub.

The groups are just coming off of their State trip to Billings at a cost of around $200 per student. The advisors figure they need between $1,500 and $2,000 per student for the Orlando trip. The Superior students will need to pay for their own airfare, which is currently around $900 or a round trip ticket.

Toivonen said they’ll probably have some dinners, and other fundraisers. They are also hoping for donations and that some sponsors will step up and help with expenses. Eichenlaub said several businesses have become sponsors for his students in the past and he hoping that will happen again this year.

Here are the state placers for 2016-2017 year:

Superior

Nathan Lapinski - 8th in Advanced Interview Skills, 3rd in Human Resource Management, 5th in Parliamentary Procedure Concepts

Sammi Francis - 4th in Advanced Word Processing Skills, 6th in Medical Office Procedures

Kaylee Ray - 3rd in Digital Publishing

Nicholas Ververis - 1st in Interview Skills, 5th in Economic Research, 5th in Legal Office Procedures

Jacob Lapinski - 4th in Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications

Charles Harraway - 2nd in Graphic Design Promotion

Hannah Calloway - 5th in Graphic Design Promotion

Aidan Patko - 2nd in Legal Office Procedures, 4th in Parliamentary Procedure Concepts

Parliamentary Procedure Team took 1st (Nathan Lapinski, Aidan Patko, Jacob Lapinski, Kaylee Cahalin, Ryan Cahalin, Kayli Schoolcraft)

Superior BPA also won the Silver Star Chapter Award and the 17th Annual Spirit of Professionalism Cup, award to one school each year.

St Regis:

Ian Farris – 6th in Economic Research Individual, 3rd in Integrated Office Applications

Madison Kelly - 1st in Economic Research Team

Madison Hill - 1st in Fundamental Word Processing Skills, 1st in Presentation Management, 6th in Administrative Support Research Project

Anna Sanford - 1st in Fundamental Word Processing Skills, 1st in Presentation Management, 2nd place in Database Applications

Emma Hill - 1st in Presentation Management, Individual 2nd place

Keanan Taylor - 4th in Digital Publishing

Makynna Lowry - 10th in Digital Media Production, 3rd in Small Business Management Team –

Chapter also received a Silver Star award and 6 members received their Torch Awards. The Torch Awards recognizes students for leadership and service to their chapter and community.

Alberton:

Mackenzie Spence received her Torch Award and placed 4th in Advanced Spreadsheet Applications.