By: Chelsey Allen
BPA members smiling for a picture after winning the District Leadership Conference. Photo by: Karson Doll
The BPA team is ready for a great year in hopes of winning state and moving on to something bigger. The BPA team has had a great amount of success every year. They could not have had this without some outstanding students wanting to have a career in some type of business.
There are a lot of challenges that come with being a BPA member. Many students such as Senior Matt Scheetz and Junior Morgan Hill have only been in BPA for one year. Everyone has high hopes for this year. Scheetz says, “ win state, and qualify for nationals.” Senior AJ Ruffing says, “ make it to nationals.”
There are always challenges along the way that many BPA students face. Ruffing says, “competition from across the state.” There are a few things that the team has to do to get ready for a competition. Hill says, “We practice skills that we will use everyday, and literally everyday, in life. We practice criteria that we all look forward to studying further into.”
Everybody does not do the same thing in BPA. Some do payroll, spreadsheets, advanced word processing, and other things. Everyone has different things to practice. Ruffing says, “ I practice by re-creating documents on the computer.” Senior Fletcher Craft says, “take practice tests.”
Even though there may be may be challenges in BPA, the experience is a learning one for students who plan to make a career out of it. Hill says, “ I plan on majoring in accounting and personal finance.” Scheetz says, “ accounting.” Karl Faulstich says, “ I plan to be in business.”
Although it takes a lot of work for a students to be in BPA, it also takes a lot of work for a BPA coach. Mr. Miley says, “ numerous hours before, during and after school.” Mr. Miley, the BPA coach has led the team for five years thorough various competitions. Miley says his hope for this year is to “dominate district, have multiple state champions and have at least eleven national qualifiers . Produce a second national champion and our first team national champion.”
This weekend the BPA team competed in the DLC (District Leadership Conference), and the outcome of the event was a great success. Many students who had success now have the opportunity to advance to the State Leadership Conference. There are many students that are going to state. Out of all the the students, these students finished first place in the DLC, Patrick Felke, Kellly Bryant, Fletcher Craft, and Logan May. The BPA team has won their fourth straight district title with there Administrative Support Team. The BPA Small Business Management Team won their third district title in four years. Thirty members have advanced to the State Leadership Conference, with seventeen members advancing in two events. Four PHS teams competed at DLC and all four brought home district titles. The 2011 DLC has been the most successful in PHS history.