Lester and Herzog take home wins from state BPA conference

Students from two local schools competed well at the recent Business Professionals of America (BPA) State Leadership Conference in Billings, and four kids earned the opportunity to advance to the national conference.

ABSAROKEE
Senior Rebecka Lester led the group of 11 Absarokee Huskies who competed at the state conference with a first-place finish in Web Design. Chloe Flynn, also a senior, took fifth place in Intermediate Word Processing. Both girls qualified for nationals.
Also attending the national conference will be senior Cole Brown. While he finished one place short of qualifying in both of his events, Brown will go to nationals as an intern.
In May, the three students, along with BPA Advisor Heidi Stevens, will spend a week in Dallas, Texas, for the National Leadership Conference. Along with the BPA competitions, Stevens said the group will have the opportunity to experience the area, including testing some tasty BBQ, attending a long-horn cattle drive, and visiting Fort Worth and presidential museums.
Starting next week, the group will begin a cookie dough fundraiser to help pay for the trip.

RAPELJE
With a first-place finish in Desktop Publishing, sophomore Ty Herzog improved upon his fourth-place achievement in the same event last year. The winning performance qualified him for nationals for the second time in as many years.
The Global Marketing Team of sophomores Carlee Blodgett, Livvie Brubaker, and Lily Knoll placed fourth at state. In her individual events Knoll also did well, earning seventh place in Desktop Publishing and eighth place in Graphic Design Promotion.
Nine students from Rapelje attended the Montana BPA State Convention.