Seminole High School’s Business Professionals of America club has been hard at work preparing for their upcoming State competition, which was held from Feb. 10-11. Every year, SHS sends BPA competitors to Regionals, some of whom earn the chance to compete at States. This year 68 percent of Seminole’s BPA members attended States, striving to end up at Nationals.

BPA is a national organization where students practice their skills for the business world. After preparing projects that range from economic papers to business presentations, students are given the chance to compete in over 100 events at the State competition including public speech, financial math, designing websites, and interviewing.

“We are excited about State competition but see it as a stepping stone to Nationals.  We go in with the idea of doing our best and learning all we can at the state level.  Our SHS team had 3 students running for State office positions and currently has 2 students serving at a State level.  We are a dedicated team and support our student officers,” said club adviser Ms. Renee Dubber.

The club was confident that they can send several students to Nationals this year, and they had several teams qualify. 

“We learn from the constructive criticism that we receive from peers and judges and use it to make ourselves better. Overall, we are in it to win it,” said Dubber.

All of the students in BPA are dedicated to their projects. The club not only helps with meeting new people and learning collaboratively, but also helps students develop working skills that could potentially lead to them becoming future leaders.

“My BPA kids are wonderful and very dedicated and hardworking. As long as they have those skills, I can work with them and help them to grow and achieve.  We produce winners and future leaders. I am very proud of them all. We have grown every year and I love seeing them grow and mature,” said Dubber.

BPA has been planning and preparing all year to get to where they are now. They have all learned a great amount of material to focus on at States and, for those who didn’t make it to States, to use  for next year’s competition season.

“To incoming BPA members I would just say, stay creative. The best ideas are those that are first laughed at. If all you can do is try, you may as well. If you are stressed, trust your instinct. Take breaks. And last, but certainly most important in that laundry list, never get so caught up in anything, whether it be BPA, work, or school, that you forget to enjoy yourself,” said senior Annie Palladio, who is the president of both SHS’s BPA club and the Florida state BPA.

Congratulations to the following students for their achievements:

• Divij Lankalapalli- Video Production Team (Nationals Bound)
• Jay Nibhanupudy-Video Production Team, Marketing & Human Resources Concepts (Nationals Bound)
• Jordan Perez-Video production Team (Nationals Bound)
• Yash Vardhan-Video production Team (Nationals Bound)
• Srinija Cherivirala– Elected State Reporter, Small Business Management Team (Nationals Bound)
• Jack Dellenger-Small Business Management Team, Financial Math & Analysis Concepts  (Nationals Bound)
• Mark Friedman– Small Business Management Team, Business Meeting & Management Concepts (Nationals Bound)
• Yashvi Vardhan– Elected State President, Small Business Management Team (Nationals Bound)
• Rohan Cherivirala– Network Design Team (Nationals Bound)
• Suhas Dhanyamraju– Network Design Team (Nationals Bound)
• Anirudh Vustepalli– Network Design Team (Nationals Bound)
• Sachi Shekhadia– Graphic Design Promotion (Nationals Bound)
• Aarin Kim– Entrepreneurship Event (Nationals Bound)
• Johnny Chan– Economic Research Team Event
• Nidhi Ohri– Economic Research Team Event
• Niral Praveen– Economic Research Team Event, elected State Treasurer
• Richa Bhavsar–  Economic Research Team Event
• Malavika Kannan– Economic Research Team Event, Business Meeting & Management Concepts
• Sagar Patel– Financial Math & Analysis Concepts
• Elizabeth Agranovsky– Prepared Speech