In May, nearly 5,000 students from all over the U.S. will travel to Dallas/Fort Worth Texas to compete with other teens at the National Leadership Conference and competition for Business Professionals of America. This will include five students from St. Regis who won a chance at a national award during State competition in Billings earlier this month. The top three in individual competition and the top 5 in team competition qualify for Nationals held May 9-13.

Teams from St. Regis, Superior and Alberton attended State with several placing in categories including economics, administration, and other business procedure know-how. In Montana there are eight regions consisting of 102 chapters. Mineral County schools are a part of region two, which also includes Hellgate, Philipsburg, and Victor.

This was St. Regis BPA Adviser, Laurie Koepplin’s first year and said she worked with an amazing group of students, “I also want to thank Tina Hill and Charlee Thompson for chaperoning and support BPA members in so many ways over the stay in Billings.”

At State, Madison Kelly placed first in individual Economic Research, and Anna Sanford received the President’s award as St. Regis Chapter President and came in first in Administrative Support Research Project. She was also a member of the Small Business Management Team with Connor Dunlap and Emma Hill which placed fourth.

Emma Hill also was third in Presentation Management and 8th in Integrated Office Applications. While Connor Dulap placed fourth in Human Resource Management.

Ian Farris was fifth in Intermediate Word Processing Skills and seventh in individual Economic Research and Kylee Thompson was fifth in Integrated Office Applications. Four Members received the Statesman Torch Award - Anna Sanford, Connor Dunlap, Emma Hill, and Madison Kelly. Also, Anna Sanford, Connor Dunlap, Emma Hill, Madison Kelly and Jacob Jasper are in line to receive the Ambassador Torch Award at National Conference.

The St. Regis Chapter also received the Montana BPA Silver Star Chapter award and a Certificate of Appreciation for donating the second largest monetary contribution ($1,000) to the Special Olympics ‘Chain of Love’. Other team members who participated at State were Keanan Taylor, Kimberlyn Parsons, Jacob Jasper and Krystina Thompson.

Superior advisor, Jami Toivonen said 14 members went to State, however none qualified for Nationals, “they did a good job for being such a young group and I’m proud of them. We’re excited and looking forward to next year.”

Those who placed at State were freshman, Bailey Milender who came in seventh in Graphic Design, junior, Jack Mitchell placed 6th in Digital Media, and he was part of the Video Production Team which placed sixth and also included junior Kade Parkin, freshman Joseph Cantrell and Myles Constant.

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 over 43,000 BPA national members.