Members of Blackhawk's Business Professional of America, left to right: Joel Schleusner (advisor), Tyler Laatsch, Deven Deegan, Cheyenne Spade, Marcus Evans, Michael Valdivia, Aidan Cain, Michelle Shinkle.
Business Professionals of America (BPA) members are preparing to compete at the National Leadership Conference, which will be held in Orlando from May 7-11.
At the state competition in February, the BPA team garnered eight first-place finishes, six second-place finishes and six third-place finishes. These wins qualified eight students for the upcoming National Leadership Conference.
The students are competing in Orlando in these categories:
- Marcus Evans - Advanced Interview Skills
- Cheyenne Spade and Deven Deegan - Video Production Team
- Leslie Mata Boehme, Michael Valdivia and Aidan Cain - Small Business Management Team
- Lexi Schmidt - Business Law and Ethics, Banking and Finance
- Sierra Empereur - Fundamental Word Processing, Fundamental Spreadsheet, College Accounting
- Leslie Mata Boehme - Intermediate Word Processing
- Aidan Cain - Human Resource Management
BPA provides opportunities for students to develop, lead and compete as they prepare for a business career. Those involved have varying areas of study, including Business Management, Hospitality, Information Technology, Nursing and more.
Cheyenne Spade, BPA’s vice president, said the group strives to “to bring people together in life and business” and networking and problem-solving are key components to the success of the group.
Joel Schleusner, Administrative Chair for the Business Department and BPA Advisor, said this year’s group of BPA participants are the “most active members in years.”
Students participating in BPA this year are:
- Marcus Evans, President
- Cheyenne Spade, Vice President
- Michael Valdivia, Director of Community Events
- Jaymion Copper, Treasurer
- Leslie Mata Boehme
- Deven Deegan
- Aidan Cain
- Sierra Empereur
- Lexi Schmidt
- Christal Wofford
- Shayna Krebs
- Michelle Shinkle
- Tyler Laatsch
BPA is the leading Career and Technical Student Organization for students pursuing careers in business management, office administration, information technology, and other related career fields. BPA has 43,000 members in over 2,300 chapters in 23 states. The mission of BPA is to contribute to the preparation of a world-class workforce through the advancement of leadership, citizenship, academic, and technological skills.
For more information, please email Joel Schleusner at jschleusner@blackhawk.edu.