Secondary and postsecondary and students from across the state of Montana attended the 2012 State Leadership Conference for the Montana association of Business Professionals of America in Billings, Montana, March 11-13, 2012.
The 2012 Montana BPA State Leadership Conference was held at the Montana State University-Billings College of Technology, the Holiday Inn Grand Montana, and the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. Members from the Sidney High School chapter and advisors Elaine Stedman and Mary Pfau joined nearly 1300 students and local chapter advisors who gathered in a spirit of friendship and goodwill as the Montana association assisted the member to “Unmask Your Future” through participation in the areas of competitive events, leadership, community development, and professionalism.
During the three-day event, students demonstrated their knowledge in business and technological skills and abilities in 60 different competitive events from within the four core assessment areas of financial service, administrative support, information technology, and marketing/management/human resources. The top finalists in each event advance to compete at the National Leadership Conference this spring in Chicago, Illinois, April 25-29, 2012.
The state conference also included an inspiring and influential keynote from Garret Garrels, author of Loops for Life and co-owner of Pink Gloves Boxing in Helena, and several workshops on topics including the five traits of leadership, the importance of insurance, integrity and the business world, how to get and how to use credit wisely, Zumba, and Unified Sports® presented by Special Olympics Montana. Additionally, local chapters donated over $5700.00 to Special Olympics Montana as their state-wide philanthropic organization.
Community members and Montana businesses also played a tremendous role in the success of the state conference by serving as judges for the competitive events. In addition, Montana BPA has received more than $10,000.00 in financial support and/or in-kind support Montana business and education institutions as part of the corporate sponsor and education partnership program. One significant education partner is the Montana State University-Bozeman’s College of Business which awarded two $1000.00 scholarships to Montana BPA members Catherine Cybulski from Custer High School and Ryan Frank from Skyview High School.
In non-event awards, Montana BPA awarded Silver Star Awards for Chapter Development to the Roberts, Shields Valley, and Sidney chapters; two $500.00 scholarships to Brandi Allerdings, Plevna, and Holly Capp, Great Falls; 72 Statesman Torch Awards; and the Spirit of Professionalism Award to the Cascade High School chapter.
During the state conference 12 secondary members participated in the state officer campaign process with the following six being elected to office for the 2012-2013 school year:
·President: Nicole Moore, Sidney High School
·Vice President: Ashley Kerkaert, Shields Valley High School
·Secretary: Hannah Bloomquist, Cascade High School
·Communications Director: MaKenna Seibenaler, Glacier High School
·Public Relations Director: Miranda McNeil, Park City High School
·Membership Director: Victoria Hill, Sidney High School
The 2013 Montana BPA State Leadership Conference again will be held in Billings March 10-12.
Business Professionals of America is the leading CTSO (Career Technical Student Organization) for students pursuing careers in business management, finance, office administration, information technology and other related career fields.
Sidney’s members placed as follows:
·Nicole Moore, 11th Place in Advanced Spreadsheet Applications and 9th Place in Fundamental Word Processing
·Ciara Parks: 1st Place in Banking & Finance, 6th Place in Broadcast News Production Team; 4th Place in Insurance Concepts; 7th Place in Marketing/Management/Human Resources
·Tori Hill: 4th Place in Banking & Finance; 6th Place in Broadcast News Production Team
·Zach Hoffman: 9th Place in Basic Office Systems & Procedures
·Cedar Lewis: 16th Place in Basic Office Systems & Procedures; 19th Place in Medical Office Procedures
·Andrew Christensen: 20th Place in Basic Office Systems & Procedures
·Taylor Fay: 2nd Place in Desktop Publishing; 6th Place in Broadcast News Production Team; 7th Place in Visual Basic Programming
·Deserae Wirth: 8th Place in Computer Network Technology
·Joey Averett: 12th Place in Computer Network Technology; 18th Place in Computer Security
·Brant Pewonka: 14th Place in Entrepreneurship; 9th Place in Visual Basic Programming
·Alexis Dynneson: 17th Place in Fundamental Word Processing
·Briana Wilcoxon: 11th Place in Integrated Office Applications
·Mark LaPan: 4th Place in Keyboarding Production
·Karley Leland: 11th Place in Keyboarding Production
·Chelsea Strasheim; 16th Place in Keyboarding Production; 12th Place in Legal Office Procedures
·Jaycee Searer: 15th Place in Medical Office Procedures
·Brandon Moore, Zach Hoffman, Shay Steinbeisser: 10th Place in Small Business Management Team
BPA has more than 51,000 members in over 2,300 chapters in 26 states. BPA is a “co-curricular” organization that supports business and information technology educators by offering curriculum based on national standards. This year, the Montana association has 1673 members and over 90 chapters.
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