Valley County Students Participate In State BPA

The Glasgow Scotties and the Opheim Vikings participated in State Business Professionals of American (BPA) in Billings March 13 and 14, representing their schools and community. Two Opheim students, Cole Taylor and Carrie Taylor, and eight Glasgow students, Dalton Sand, Mitchell Winchester, Tanner White, Eli Feezell, Blaire Westby, Raelee Dowden, Alesia Hopstad and Kate Parks, all qualified for Nationals in Dallas, Texas, May 4 through 8. These students qualified based on their participation, service and awards they have earned. However, other students who participated at the State level could still qualify for Nationals due to being runner-ups in their events or finishing award processes.

In addition to students bringing home hardware, co-advisor for Glasgow’s BPA Jill Page was awarded Advisor of the Year, and Glasgow High School was honored with the Montana Silver Star Award for Chapter Development as well as was recognized as Biz Bowl Champions for the Biz Bowl competition they participated in this past October. Seniors Sand and Parks also represented Glasgow High School throughout the year at the State Level with Sand holding the state officer position as secretary and Parks holding the position as state intern.

“Our Opheim students continue to represent our community well and give us reasons to be proud!,” stated Opheim’s advisor Becky Rogenes. Representing the Vikings at the State level were freshman Meagan Jacka, sophomores James Landles and Maria Landles, juniors Bo Anderson and Carrie Taylor as well as seniors Cole Taylor and Zach Fauth, all participating in a number of different events. Jacka competed in Legal Office Procedures coming in 28th and M. Landles also competed in the event coming in 15th. J. Landles received a medal by coming in eighth in Server Administration Using Microsoft and 13th in Computer Network Technology. Anderson made top 10 in all of his tests with seventh in Computer Security, eighth in Linux Operating System Fundamentals and eighth in Device Configuration and Troubleshooting. Carrie Taylor came in first in Health Insurance and Medical Billing, receiving a plaque for her hard work. She also came in 13th in ICD-10 Medical Diagnostics and 21st in Health Administration Procedures. Fauth came in 29th in Banking and Finance and 17th in Personal Financial Management.

Cole Taylor placed first in Parliamentary Procedure Concepts, second in Management, Marking and Human Resource Concepts, fifth in Business Meeting Management Concepts and 10th in Financial Math & Analysis Concepts. He also advanced to the final round for Advanced Interview Skills and ended up coming in sixth, as well as placed 11th in Extemporaneous Speech and 30th in Payroll Accounting.

“The Top 10 make it to the stage to receive medals and the top three in judged and top five in non-judged events qualify for Nationals. Cole and Carrie both qualified!,” explained Rogenes.

Glasgow’s advisors Page and Kristina McGee are very proud of how the Scotties performed in their various events and are excited for the opportunity in Dallas. Glasgow High School has had students qualify for Nationals the past two years however due to COVID, the events were held virtually, which just wasn’t the same as being able to participate and interact in person.

In addition to the Valley County student representation at Nationals, Page will be competing against 50 other advisors for National BPA Advisor of the Year while in Dallas, as a result of being awarded Advisor of the Year at State. Page admits she was surprised when she found out she was awarded at the State level as she had “totally forgot about it.” In order to qualify, letters of recommendations had to be sent on why she was deserving of the award.

“Dalton [Sand] knew before anyone else due to being on the State Board and he had to keep it a secret from all of us! He did a great job of that!,” chuckled Page.

Though it was a whirlwind of a few days, the students enjoyed the experience and can’t wait for this next level.

“BPA is very stressful and exhausting, but it’s a great way to meet new people,” explained White. “I really liked the creating process in Presentation Management-Individual.”

“BPA really allows me to get outside of my comfort zone,” stated Parks, who was also awarded the Membership Recruiter Award at State. “You feel accomplished at the end of it and it’s a really great experience. It helps you learn social and technology skills and really helps a student’s career path.” said Hopstad.

“These kids are always up against a deadline,” said Page. Though when traveling to Nationals it won’t all be competitions as they will also have the opportunity to be tourists and hopefully see the Dallas aquarium and Cowboys stadium.

To help fundraise for this trip, Glasgow will be hosting Pizza Hut fundraisers March 29 and April 20. If anyone would like to sponsor a student to help them get to Nationals, contact Jill Page at Glasgow High School, 406-228-2485.

Complete Glasgow State BPA Awards

State Officer (Secretary) - Dalton Sand

State Intern - Kate Parks

Montana Silver Star Award for Chapter Development - Glasgow High School

Statesman Torch Awards: Mitchell Winchester, Blaire Westby, Kate Parks, Tanner White

Presidential Award - Eli Feezell

Membership Recruiter Award - Kate Parks

Advisor of the Year - Mrs. Page

Biz Bowl Champions 2021 - Glasgow High School

Digital Marketing Concepts - Tanner White - 9th Place

Informational Technology Concepts - Alesia Hopstad - 10th

Presentation Management Individual: Tanner White - 10th

Prepared Speech: Dalton Sand - 8th

Broadcast News Production Team: Mitchell Winchester & Dalton Sand - 11th

Health Administration Leadership and Special Topics: Gabe Munroe – 8th, Raelee Dowden - 12th

Computer Modeling: Connor Whitmer - 6th

Entrepreneurship: Kate Parks (Rank was not listed)

Human Resource Management: Kate Parks - 12th

Extemporaneous Speech: Dalton Sand - 16th

C# Programming: Raelee Dowden - 3rd

C++ Programming: Raelee Dowden - 4th

Business Law and Ethics: Gabe Munroe - 7th Place

Basic Office System and Procedures: Blaire Westby - 5th Place