Business Professionals of America (BPA) held its Regional Leadership Conference at the Missoula College in Missoula on Jan. 8. All three Mineral County High Schools sent teams to the conference with an overall good showing. Top placing students will go to State held in Billings in March.

BPA is an organization for high school students to prepare themselves to take part in a works force or business setting after they graduate. It teaches them to use time wisely and learn valuable work ethic. Members can compete in areas they are interested in or in areas they need to improve in for future success in the business world. It is an ideal atmosphere to cultivate self-confidence and inspires students to grow as individuals academically and personally.

St. Regis BPA

The St. Regis team has ten member who earned 37 awards. This trove of awards included 13 first place, 8 second place, and 4 third place. Of the ten students who competed in testing events, eight competed on-site in Missoula said team advisor, Laurie Koepplin,“I believe we have a talented group and will make a strong showing at State.”

In the competition the top three place winners included the Small Business Management Team came in first place which included Connor Dunlap, Anna Sanford and Emma Hill. Dunlap also placed first in Human Resource Management. Ian Farris placed first in Intermediate Word Processing and second in Individual Economic Research and Integrated Office Applications. Emma Hill placed first in Individual Presentation Management and second in Advanced Office Systems.

Jacob Jasper placed first in Basic Office Systems and Procedures, and in Human Resource Management. Madison Kelly placed first in Individual Economic Research, Advanced Office Systems and Procedures, and in Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications and third in Integrated Office Applications. Kim Parsons placed second in both Intermediate Word Processing and Medical Office Procedures. Anna Sanford place first in Integrated Office Applications, Database Applications, Legal Office Procedures, Human Resource Management and Individual Administrative Support Research. She also placed second in Advanced Word Processing and third in Advanced Accounting. Keanan Taylor also placed second in Fundamental Word Processing while Kylee Thompson place third in both Advanced Office Systems and Intermediate Word Processing.

Superior BPA

The Superior BPA team came home with ten first place along with several second and third place awards. Advisor, Jami Toivonen said it was a wonderful experience for her students and everyone who participated managed to place and will be heading to State. There were tours and speakers at the event, including their two speakers who were former Dallas Cowboy and Financial Planner Brian Salonen and Superior High School graduate and owner of the Liquid Planet Franchise, Scott Billadeau.

“Both brought a wealth of knowledge and some amazing tips to future business students,” she said. “I was very proud of all of the students from Region 2 and cannot wait to see what State has in store for us.”

Superior team top three place results included Jack Mitchell who placed first in Digital Media, and the Video Production Team who placed first which included Mitchell, Joseph Cantrell, Myles Constant, Kade Parkin. The Parliamentary Procedure Team also placed first and consisted of Ryan Cahalin, Kaylee Cahalin, Kayli Schoolcraft, Jacob Lapinski, Kade Parkin.

In Parliamentary Procedure Concepts, Jacob Lapinski placed first, Kaylee Cahalin, second, and Kayli Schoolcraft, third. Bailey Milender placed first in Graphic Design Promotion and Jacob Lapinski placed first in Advanced Spreadsheet. Lapinski was also on the Administrative Support Team which placed second and also included Bailey Milender, Myles Constant, and Trey Green. Hailey Kelly placed second in Administrative Support Concepts and Hannah Calloway placed third.

Joseph Cantrell placed first in PC Servicing and Troubleshooting and Lapinski placed third. In Computer Security, Cantrell placed first and Mitchell placed second. In Informational Technology Concepts, Lapinski placed first and Cantrell, third. Ryan Cahalin placed third in Human Resource Management and the Presentation Management Team took first and included Kaylee Cahalin, and Kayli Schoolcraft. Schoolcraft also placed third in Business Meeting Management Concepts.

Alberton BPA

Lexi Fisher is the advisor for the Alberton BPA team and said her kids did awesome, “I couldn’t be more proud of them.” She also thanked Kyle Fisher and Erik Johnson who helped judge this year, “we couldn’t hold the event if it weren’t for all the great judges, thank you.”

In competition the top three place winners included Sara Knapp received second place for Graphic Design and Kristina Solinger received second in Legal Office Procedures. Isaac Warran received first place in Network Administration and Bethany Shaske got second place in Business Meeting Concepts. Tara Cook got third in Prepared Speech and Emmah Baughman got first in Administrative Support Concepts and second in Basic Office Systems. Gerald Peterson got second in Personal Finance.