The Downtown Indianapolis Marriott was host to almost 2,000 Business Professionals of America high school students from all over the state of Indiana this past Sunday through Tuesday. Students participated in a college fair, leadership development seminars, and competed in over sixty-five events in categories covering finance, business administration, management information systems, digital communication and design, and management, marketing and communications. 

Twin Lakes had four students qualify for nationals to be held in Washington D.C. May 6th – 10th. Sophomore Richard Davis placed 7th in Computer Programming Concepts and 6th in Fundamental Spreadsheets. Senior Tomie Ibarra earned 1st place in Network Administration using Cisco. Junior Akina Lindley placed 4th in Linux Operating System Fundamentals. Sophomore Griffin McAtee placed 1st in Computer Security and 3rd in Linux Operating System  Fundamentals. Senior Tomie Ibarra was asked how he felt about going to nationals this year, and responded by saying, “[Going to state] is pretty cool. I am really proud of the school. Last year we only had two people make it to nationals, and this year we’re up to four people” and went on to congratulate the other members and say, “we had many people getting multiple awards and getting multiple first places. I am just really proud of the school and the members this year.” Davis, Lindley and McAtee are all new members in BPA which makes this accomplishment even more rewarding. BPA advisor Mrs. Rogers said, “Most students don’t join until their junior and senior year and regret not joining sooner. We have several freshmen and sophomores this year and gaining this experience at state will only make future years here more successful.” 

Also attending the conference were junior Hayley Bolinger, sophomore Ella Galvin, junior Mia Mrak, freshman Levi Norris, senior Jadden Ousley, and senior Ty Ploss. Norris, who placed second at Regionals, competed in Interview Skills, and Ousley competed in Human Resource Management for the second year in a row.

BPA is sponsoring a 5k or 1 mile color run/walk on Saturday, April 25th to help with the costs of Nationals. To sign up contact Mrs. Rogers at [email protected] or stop by the high school and pick up a registration form from the front office.