Previously, the Seminole Times had covered Business Professionals of America (BPA), a club at Seminole High School (SHS). BPA’s Regional Leadership Conference took place on Dec. 2, 2022 at Seminole State College. Students shared that their experience at regionals was a mix of emotions: fun, exciting, and nerve-racking. Participants had to wait for results for the competition, which seemed as if there was no end in sight. Finally, on the day before winter break, they were rewarded with the results. Congratulations to all those who participated and all those who qualified for the State Leadership Competition!

Listed below in alphabetical order by last name are all those who qualified for states:

Eshal Ahmad

Liyana Ahmed

Anish Amirneni

Nijal Anantoji

Romina Ariannejad

Aadarsh Arul

Sarah Awwad

Selena Awwad

Kaundinya Ayalasomayajula

Krishang Babaladi

Vishal Balaji

Dev Bhandari

Clara Bouley

Caroline Brown

Eric Chen

Ahnaf Chowdhury

Saifan Chowdhury

Nikhil Desetty

Zainab Dewji

Jabir Dhalla

Sanat Dhanyamraju

Pranav Eada

Ruby Feng

Mahekfatema Fidahussein

Sophia Gallego

Laura Guske

Claudia Hernandez

Jeremiah Hidayat

Husayn Abbas Jaffer

Jay Kapur

Kushagra Katiyar

Samhitha Katuru

Mihir Kelkar

Inaj Khan

Tabeana Khan

Aisha Khurshid

Sharon Kim

Swadheep Kodathala

Suchir Kolli

Sri Kolimi

Rayce Kronenberg

Aashwi Kumawat

Haani-Mohamed Lalji

Risheeta Madireddi

Alejandro Martinez

Anjani Matieda

Aedan McKelvey

Rishabh Mehta

Benjamin Merino

Khwajanawaz Mohammad

Hasini Munugeti

Vasundara Muralidharan

Jyotsna Reddy Muthukuru Gangireddy

Krisha Nagpal

Rishit Nagula

Amber Ni

Andrew Ni

Fiona Pando

Amal Papali

Chloe Park

Aryan Parulekar

Krisha Patel

Rohan Patel

Shrina Patel

Tanvi Patel

Withanage Perera

Carter Pham

Akshitha Pinnamaraju

Anssh Prajapati

Aarohi Pulijala

Anoop Purohitham

Manuy Raghubala

Kaushik Rajkumar Jayaprabha

Rayyan Randhawa

Haadi Rattansi

Hamza Rattansi

Mirza Redan

Sarikka Rejeth

Keerthi Revuri

Faith Rivers

Amelia Rodriguez

Srevatsan Sairaman

Samiksha Sathyappa

Aryan Save

Hailey Sejpal

Krish Sejpal

Aanya Shah

Dhruv Shah

Krish Shah

Ashutosh Sharma

Rahil Shaw

Navneeth Suresh

Rishab Suresh

Clarence Ta

Aarna Thakore

Nithish Thirumavalavan

Veda Tigura

Aadesh Toshniwal

Ajay Vangara

Sihi Vasista

Mariah Vaughn

Shawn Vazhappilly

Karina Verma

Apoorva Vishwakarma

Ankitha Vustepalli

Tahhsin Wasif

Sriram Yerramsetty

Winny Zhang

Eric Zhu

Michael Zhu

  Because of BPA’s growing number of participants, this year top three from each category will move on  to the State Leadership Conference (SLC). Hosted at the Hilton Hotel in Lake Buena Vista, participants  will be there from Thursday, February 23th to Sunday, February 26th. With SLC a little more than a month away, students are excited for the gateway competition. 

Ruby Feng, an IB sophomore, competed in BPA’s regional competition for the first time this year. She describes how she felt when she and her team made third place in their division. After months of prepping, she felt “rewarded and excited” upon learning that their team had made it past Regionals . 

“At first they told us only first and second place would go to states, so it was actually kind of sad, but then we found out we could go so we are happy now. I’m actually kind of nervous for states because I haven’t done it before.” 

While this is Feng’s first time competing in states, Hailey Sejpal, an IB senior, is an experienced BPA member who has been participating in the club for the past three years: “I’ve gone to states every year and nationals every year. I’m excited for this year because we have a new hotel so it should be fun.” 

Not only are the participants excited for the new hotel, but also the club’s officers. 

Ankitha Vustepalli, an officer for the BPA chapter at SHS expresses: “From last year’s states and this year’s states there is a difference in location or hotel. It’s a lot nicer and a lot more fun.” 

Vustepalli has participated in BPA for two years now, and earned first place in this year’s competition. She stated that she was “very excited when [she] found out.” 

As the BPA State Leadership Competition nears, we wish each and every participant luck! For more information about this year’s SLC, be sure to contact Ms. Renee Dubber or any of the BPA officers for more information.