TEMPLE, Texas — The Temple High School chapter of Business Professionals of America (BPA) will be sending a contingent of six students to compete at that organization’s National Leadership Conference in May. Those students earned the right to advance to the National Competition based on their performance at the Texas BPA State Leadership Conference in Dallas earlier this month.
Carlos Gamez posted the top individual finish among the Temple HS students competing in the state conference. Gamez finished in second place in Server Administration Using Microsoft to qualify for the national competition. Atharv Garg finished in sixth place in Banking and Finance to earn a spot at nationals and Mason Abbey will be advancing to the national conference for the second straight year after finishing eighth in Intermediate Word Processing Skills at the state conference. Those students are looking forward to the chance to test their skills against the nation’s best, but they also understand what a tremendous opportunity attending the National Leadership Conference can be, even beyond the competition side of the event.
“You get to meet some many people from across the country and I want to make sure that everyone takes full advantage of the opportunities that are there,” Abbey said. “It feels great to be a qualifier again and it means the hard work and practice that I put in paid off in a competitive environment. Being able to absorb a lot of information and being to network are very important things in any career field, and I think you learn a lot of that through state and nationals in BPA.”
“I never expected to qualify for nationals, especially as a freshman, because that doesn’t happen very often,” Garg added. “There will be so many great learning experiences available. The perseverance and skills I have learned through this process are going to help me later in my life, they can come in handy at any time.”
Houston Martin will be an alternate at the national conference after taking fifth place in Entrepreneurship. The team of Nevaeh Tobe and Ashley Huete finished in eighth place in Global Marketing Team Presentation and will also travel to the national conference as alternates. Those students are looking forward to the opportunity to support their classmates and take in the other experiences available at the national conference.
“Just being there is a great experience,” Martin said. “They have a lot of networking events and being able to be there to participate in those. We can also be there to support and help those who are competing.”
“I want to be able to support the others in our group and give them whatever help they might need,” said Huete. “I also want to be able to take advantage of any other opportunities that might come up while we are there.”
Temple High School had a total of 15 students qualify to compete in the state competition this year, more than doubling the total from the previous year. The six students qualifying or serving as alternates at the National Leadership Conference is triple the number that qualified last year. The Temple HS BPA chapter is under the direction of third-year advisor Jessica Cuellar and the organization continues to provide opportunities for students in several of the career pathways available through Temple ISD’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) Department
“Competing on a national stage against thousands of the best students in the country simulates the competitive intensity of the corporate world,” Sara Bartlett, director of CTE for Temple ISD said. “These students have the opportunity to travel to Nashville, network with other students and sponsors, and represent Temple High School – what an honor!”
The BPA National Leadership Conference will be held May 6-10th in Nashville, Tennessee. BPA allows students to compete in contests in over ninety categories under six Assessment Areas including: Finance, Business Administration, Management Information Systems, Digital Communication & Design, Management, Marketing, & Communication, and Health Administration.