Business Professionals of America is an organization that seeks to prepare global professionals through leadership, citizenship, academic and technological skills. Through being involved in this leadership-oriented organization, a handful of Bronco students have forever been positively affected.

 After successfully placing in the district-level competition of BPA, the students had the opportunity to compete at State BPA and attend the leadership conference. On March 7th, they made their way to Boise to have an experience they will never forget. Throughout the whole two-and-a-half day excursion, these young teenagers from all over Idaho had the opportunity to share ideas, perspectives, and projects. Not only were they growing as individuals, but they were also significantly bounding towards a more unified Idaho.

 As competitions continued throughout the weekend, a few Blackfoot students kept progressing in the rounds: Collin Kress, Payton Parks, Natalee Nelson, and Andy Fitzgerald.

 Kress competed in JAVA programming and Spreadsheets. He ended up placing in both events, but his best event was JAVA in which he came in 5th place (meaning he qualified to go to Nationals). “I was kind of surprised,” Kress said. However, he was still overjoyed because his hard work and preparation paid off. Going into Nationals, Kress hopes to do more research on JAVA and the specifics on how it works.

 For Parks, Nelson, and Fitzgerald, they competed in Small Business Management as a team. In their own words, their goal going into State was “To make it to Nationals by doing the least amount of effort possible.” So, when they found out that they actually did make it to Nationals, they were beyond bewildered. They hope to sufficiently study and research this time and make the most of their skills and talents.

 Nationals will be held in May in Anaheim, California.