BPA regional competition yields fun for participants, recognition for CHS

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Akila Muthukumar

Coppell High School sophomores Uttami Godha and Jayashree Ganesan prepare for their team competitive event, Broadcast News Production, by reviewing their notes Saturday morning. On Jan. 14, around 90 Coppell High School students who participate in the Business Professionals of America (BPA) club competed at the Texas Area 1 Region 2 competition at Dubiski Career High School in Grand Prairie.

Coppell High School students in the Business Professionals of America club have been preparing for competition since early October by creating presentations, learning to use new softwares, taking practice tests and rehearsing presentations with team members.

On Saturday January 14, Coppell High School students who are a part of the Business Professionals of America (BPA) club competed in the Texas Area 1 Region 2 competition at Dubiski Career High School in Grand Prairie.

“I’m really happy with the effort we [my team and I] put it,” CHS sophomore officer Ishita Rastogi said. “[Everyone] put in a lot of work to [both] team and individual [events]. It was a lot of time and effort and I think it was used efficiently.”

After school workshops were hosted regularly by the advisers – Jan McClintock, Cynthia Wolfe and Kim Goodman – to monitor progress and ensure all students would create quality products to represent CHS.

Interestingly, the regional leadership conference is much more than a stressful competition; it is a chance to spend time with friends, network with new like minded people, and even enjoy some lively music and dancing while waiting for the awards ceremony to begin.

“For the second half of the day, after everyone competed, [the regional competition organizers] got this DJ, who played pretty legitimate party type music,” CHS senior Rachel Kass said. “We were all dressed up in these [professional] pantsuits and we were all just dancing and having a good time. It’s just a really good experience and does instill pretty good professional business values, which is always a benefit.”

After electing new regional officers and reciting the BPA pledge, the awards ceremony began. In addition to students, chaperones, and the advisors who spent the day at Dubiski, many parents also came out to support the program.

“I loved the number of parents who were at awards,” McClintock said.

McClintock, CHS lead adviser and regional co-president, is determined to ensure every team is prepared for state, where competition will be much tougher.

“Some projects were not as good as they have been in the past and yet, because of some of the competition, they still advanced to state,” McClintock said. “We will expect a higher standard for [preparation] for state.”

Students who advanced will attend the State Leadership Conference from March 1-4 in Dallas.
“The best part is knowing so many Coppell people made it to state and that’s something to look forward to,” Rastogi said.

Following is a list of individuals and teams, along with their events, who qualified for state.

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