Laura Kattilakoski

Staff Writer

Coppell High School BPA coordinator Jan McClintock did not hold back when expressing her excitement after the team won the State Business Professional of America Trophy for.

“Since it’s our third time, that’s awesome,” McClintock said. “[In BPA] they get to see the real business world, or what it might be like. They have to dress professionally. They also get the benefit of meeting with people from all over the state, or, when we go to nationals, all over the nation. They also get the experience [of] working with a team and just doing things you wouldn’t do at school. Everything you pretty much do outside of school.”

The state competition was held March 3-5 in Fort Worth.

Seven CHS students qualified for nationals. Some have consistently been competing at the national level, while other will be going for the first time.

“I was completely shocked [when I found out I won my event],” sophomore Sai Panguluri said. “They announced them in backwards order and once I figured out that since I wasn’t in eighth through second I figured I had to be first— I was really shocked.”

Nationals are in Washington D.C, from May 4-8.

“[The best part about competition is] going cool places, like last year we went to Anaheim [Calif.] and that was really fun. We just get to meet a lot of cool people from all over the country,” senior Mitu Bhattathiry said.

In joining BPA, members agree to prepare for their individual and team events completely outside of school. The events range from Financial Services to Marketing and Human Resources.

“I’ve been in it [BPA] two years. Last year, I did a computer animation team and this year I did a video production team and integrated office applications individually,” junior Ashlyn Foster said. “It helped teach leadership and responsibility. You’re totally responsible for learning everything you need on your own as well as showing up to your events and doing well.”

BPA provides the opportunity for students to improve their leadership skills as well as explore the fields within business management careers. It is a great chance for students to explore the options available to them.

“The best part about competition was the feeling of doing well and knowing that you worked at something and did well in it,” Panguluri said.  “And actually being there and meeting kids from different areas that you actually had something in common with and just bonding over like the 20 minutes that you’re waiting together was great.”

The CHS National Qualifiers won first through third place in the categories of Human Resource Management, Economic Research, Visual Basic Programming, Integrated Office Applications, and Network Design Black Team.

“By doing BPA I realized that I actually had an interest in a business field rather than engineering, or medical field, or anything like that that my parents want me to do,” Panguluri said.

CHS BPA National Qualifiers for 2011:

1^st– Human Resource Management- Sai Panguluri

3^rd– Economic Research- Mitu Bhattathiry

1^st– Visual Basic Programming- Dinesh Seemakurty

1^st– Integrated Office Applications- Ashlyn Foster

1^st– Network Design Black Team- Mitu Bhattathiry, Nimi Bhattathiry, and Kim Le