Plymouth High School Business Professionals of America (BPA), attended the 52nd Annual State Leadership Conference (SLC) in Indianapolis at the downtown Marriott earlier this month. PHS business teacher Gene Skirvin, a PHS BPA advisor, attended the two-day conference that began on March 13 with 19 PHS students who competed against other students from across the state in various events.
BPA is a career and technical student organization that aims to develop leadership, academic, and technological skills in the workplace among students and leaders within the community. Throughout the year, PHS BPA students will compete in three primary events, the Regional Leadership Conference (RLC), the State Leadership Conference (SLC), and the National Leadership Conference (NLC). To qualify for the State and National Leadership conference, students score high in their respective events to advance to the next conference.
The state of Indiana is divided into 12 BPA regions. Regions 3 and 6 are combined, as is Regions 4 and 5. The remaining regions are represented independently. Students from all 12 regions were represented at this year’s State Leadership Conference March 10 through the 12th. Plymouth High School is a part of Region 2 which includes Argos High School, Culver Community High School, John Adams High School, Northwood High School, and the Warsaw Area Career Center.
Nicole Keller, a Plymouth High School senior, is the current Region 2 elected president for the Indiana BPA. It was announced at this year’s SLC, that Keller’s successor for Region 2 will be Griffin Nate, a current junior at PHS. Skirvin said in his five years that he has served as a PHS BPA advisor, two Plymouth High School students have not been elected consecutively to serve as the Indiana BPA Region 2 president. Skirvin said this is a tremendous honor for PHS BPA and Plymouth High School in general.
PHS BPA students who competed in individual events at this year’s SLC were as follows:
Rachel Bockman, Graphic Design Promotion
Bryce Carmichael, Economic Research
Alaina Clady, Personal Financial Management
Larry Dragani, Computer Security
Jack Garner, Extemporaneous Speech
Nicole Keller, Entrepreneurship
Bo Meadors, Graphic Design Promotion
Griffin Nate, Advanced Interview Skills
Julia Patrick, Presentation Management
Konnor Ray, Entrepreneurship
Bridget Schafer Graphic Design Promotion and Human Resource Management
Hugh Smith, Extemporaneous Speech
Olive Stanton, Medical Office Procedures
Elizabeth Sutterby, Basic Office Systems and Procedures
PHS BPA students who competed in group events at the 2019 State Leadership Conference were as follows:
Video Production: Bryce Carmichael, Alaina Clady, Clay Hilliard, and Olive Stanton.
Parliamentary Procedure: Jack Garner, Hugh Smith, Bo Meadors, Konnor Ray, and Griffin Nate.
Financial Analyst: Drew Harrell, Matthew Janus, and Jonathan Hernandez
Website Design: Kaitlyn Renneker, Julia Patrick and Nicole Keller in Team.
SLC awards for PHS consisted of the following:
First place – Website Design, Kaitlyn Renneker, Julia Patrick, and Nicole Keller
Second place – Extemporaneous Speech, Jack Garner
Second place in Advanced Interview Skills, Griffin Nate
Third place – Human Resource Management, Bridget Schafer
Fourth place – Graphic Design Promotion, Bo Meadors
Fourth place in the Parliamentary Procedure Team category, Hugh Smith, Konnor Ray, Jack Garner, Bo Meadors, and Griffin Nate.
All award winners will advance to the NLC in Anaheim, California from May 1-4 to compete in their respective events.
This post was produced in full by PHS Career Marketing junior Bo Meadors.
