Students excel in regional competition

Students from St. Regis, Alberton and Superior competed last Monday, December 13, in the Business Professionals of America regional competition in Missoula at the University of Montana.

Students from Superior excelled at regionals and are looking forward to state.

In fundamental spreadsheet applications, Michele Smith placed second and Heather Kelly took third. In financial math and analysis, Ryan Bowers took first, Daylon Kuhl took second and Trevor Bailey placed fifth. Michele Reinelt took second place in advanced spreadsheet applications and a second in fundamental word processing skills. Jeff Price took first in insurance concepts. In the event of broadcast news, Aaron Morse, Aaron Lowman and Bailey took first. Smith and Kelsey Stenberg competed in digital media productions. Smith took first and Stenberg took second.

The computer animation team of Daniel McGuinness, Tiphanie Erickson, Theresa Rosheim and Shane Streeter grabbed first place.  Bowers, Stenberg, Hillary Stevens and Cary Chamberlain took first in their team event of video production. The Web site design team of Kate Bullock and Kinzie Cooper took first place and the team comprised of Tanner Smith, Price and Myranda Kuhl took second.

Competing in graphic design promotion, Stenberg took first place and Erickson took second. Kiana Cox also took third. Reinelt grabbed first place in interview skills and Kelly took second.

In advanced interview skills, Stevens took first. Lowman grabbed a first in extemporaneous speech and Kuhl took third in the event. All the students will be heading to the state competition.

Toivonen said that one of the most important things students learn is just about how to stand up for their own work.

“I know for myself that after high school just being able to get up and defend something I produced was really hard when I first went into college,” Toivonen said. “When these students leave BPA, if they’ve participated, they are very prepared to get up and work under pressure, answer questions and are very good at defending projects. They are able to take criticism from judges and make something of it.”

Alberton advisor Kent Haab said that all the kids will be going to the state competition this year. The club in Alberton had nine kids that participated and will travel to the state competition. Jenna Rausch, who is the president of the Alberton BPA club, will compete in banking, financials and math analysis at the state competition. She enjoys being involved with BPA for many reasons.

“I get to hang out with people who I wouldn’t normally hang out,” Rausch said. “I also think it will help me down the road with communication skills, organization and leadership.”

Joining Rausch in going to state will be Cody Ishler, Dayton Hudson, Cody Nyguaard, Linda Olsen, Haley Marvin, Delani Hanley, Ryan Vicek and David Stafford.

Outside of competition, the Alberton BPA has been helping out in the community. This year, they sponsored a food drive for the bank in Alberton and collected 1,280 pounds of food.

“That is a huge amount for our little school,” Haab said. “That was one of the big things we did and Dayton Hudson and Cody Ishler helped with that.”

Haab said that they are looking ahead to going to state. Rausch said that the club will also be selling calendars, with the birthdays of people from the community on it to raise money for their trip to the state competition. They are currently selling them and will also have them available at the home basketball games in Alberton. Rausch said that from now until state, they will be continuing to practice their tests.

Over in St. Regis, advisor Kassie Cheesman had five out of six students qualify for the state competition. Working as a team, Juliana Spencer, Thomas Spencer and Dawn Froehlich qualified in presentation management. Juliana, Thomas and Jeran Jennings also qualified in advanced word processing. Jerrod Tippens and Froehlich qualified in word processing and Froehlich will also compete in integrated office applications at state.

“For some of the kids, this wasn’t their first year, but for Dawn and Jerad it was. Regionals were a learning experience for them,” Cheesman said. “I was very happy with how everyone did at regionals.”

Cheesman said it’s important to note that the students spend time outside of class and outside of sports working on their projects.

“They are doing this on their own time,” Cheesman said. “They have to get this stuff done outside of school.”

Cheesman said that as the student’s advisor she believes that she’s giving them an opportunity to experience new things, noting that when she was in high school no one wanted to take charge and have a program.

“They’re learning real life, business skills with what they do,” Cheesman said. “They have to follow rules and many events take them through things such as interview skills and more.”

Cheesman said that the students will be busy with fundraising again between now and state as well as continuing to work on their projects. She said cakes will be raffled off at all home basketball games to raise funds and cookies will also be available for purchase.

“I’m looking forward to see how they do at state,” Cheesman said.

Business Professionals of America is a national career and technical student organization consisting of 23 state associations and more than 43,000 members. The organization serves students who are currently, or were previously enrolled, in a business education program at a secondary or post-secondary institution. Chapters are located in high schools, career/technical centers, post-secondary technical institutions, junior and community colleges, and colleges and universities.

Our mission is to empower Montana Business Professionals of America students to succeed in a world-class workforce through the development of leadership, academic, and technological skills. There are 90 chapters in Montana, which is divided into eight regions.

The name also has its own purpose: business- the field for which we prepare our students emphasizes that we educate our members to work efficiently, not only in an office setting, but also in a wide variety of business situations; professionals- our students indicate they join to take advantage of a wide variety of professional development opportunities; of America- symbolizes pride in our country and its free enterprise system.