Secondary and postsecondary students from across the state of Montana attended the 2013 State Leadership Conference for the Montana Association of Business Professionals of America in Billings, Montana, March 10-12, 2013.
The 2013 Montana BPA State Leadership Conference was held at the City College Montana State University – Billings, the Holiday Inn Grand Montana, and the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. Sidney members Nicole Moore, Montana State President and Tori Hill, Montana State Membership Director, were part of the leadership team at the conference. Elaine Stedman, Sidney’s chapter advisor, also served as part of the conference planning leadership team, acting as the State Judged Events Coordinator. Members from the Sidney High School chapter and advisor Elaine Stedman and Mary Pfau joined nearly 1,300 students and local chapter advisors who gathered in a spirit of friendship and goodwill as the Montana association assisted the member to “Discover Your Treasure” 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 Orlando, Florida, May 6-12, 2013.
The state conference also included a motivational and encouraging keynote from Steve Weber, professional Forrest Gump impersonator and owner of Weber and Associates in Hamilton, and several workshops on topics including leadership, pushing physical and mental boundaries and personal limits, self-defense and Not Another “I” Exam: Teambuilding presented by Special Olympics Montana. Additionally, local chapters donated over $6,800 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 $8,500 in financial support and/or in-kind support from Montana business and education institutions as part of the corporate sponsor and education partnership program, including an educational sponsorship from Sidney High School. One significant education partner is the Montana State University-Bozeman’s College of Business which awarded two $1,000 scholarships to Montana BPA members Jonathan Small from Simms High School and Chelsea Strasheim from Sidney High School.
In non-event awards, Montana BPA awarded Silver Star Awards for Chapter Development to the Jefferson High School, Park City High School, Shields Valley High School and Sidney High School chapters; two $500 scholarships to Jere Dennehy, Colstrip, and Tena Pate, Great Falls; $125 Statesman Torch Awards and the Spirit of Professionalism Award to the Lavina High School chapter.
During the state conference 11 secondary members participated in the state officer campaign process with the following six being elected to office for the 2013-2014 school year: President Victoria Hill, Sidney High School; Vice President Kourtney Schott, Broadview High School; Communications Director Callum Gannon, Park High School; Public Relations Director Taylor Anderson, Glacier High School; Membership Director Jack Jennaway, Melstone High School.
The 2014 Montana BPA State Leadership Conference again will be held in Billings, March 9-11.
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.
BPA has more than 51,000 members in over 2,300 chapters in 28 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 1,675 members and over 90 chapters.
BPA Leadership Conference Sidney Results 2013:
Cade Strasheim, Administrative Support Team 10th place; Brady Johnson, Administrative Support Team 10th place; Dustin Bailey, Administrative Support Team 10th place; Adam Lake, Administrative Support Team 10th place; Marcos Aguilar, Banking & Finance 8th place; Nicole Moore, Basic Office Systems 1st place, Medical Office Procedures 5th place, Interview Skills 10th place; Molly Brodhead, Basic Office Systems 6th place; Colin Moran, Computer Security 4th place; Austin Watterson, Computer Security 10th place; Jared Troudt, Entrepreneurship 10th place, Video Production Team 10th place, Information Technology 19th place; Tori Hill, Extemporaneous Speech 2nd place, Medical Office Procedures 3rd place, Mgmt/Mktg/HR Concepts 7th place, Business Meeting Management 18th place; Chelsea Strasheim, Integrated Office Applications 7th place, $1,000 MSU Bozeman BPA Scholarship, Administrative Support Concepts 12th place; Krista Steinbeisser, Medical Office Procedures 4th place; Heidi Anderson, Medical Office Procedures 10th place, Video Production Team 10th place; Olivia Hintz, Business Meeting Management 7th place, Insurance Concepts 10th place, Legal Office Procedures 11th place; Tresha Sanders, Business Meeting Management 8th place, Video Production Team 10th place.
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