The Business Professionals of America members are preparing for Regionals which will be held December 5th this year. Usually held at Hamilton Heights, they have been moved to online this year due to the ongoing Covid crisis. Students will take tests online, and will present their projects to judges live via a virtual platform.

This year thirty BPA members are competing in over twenty different events. Students take tests and complete real world projects.

The News Broadcast Team worked hard on their project during E-Learning. They interviewed local businessmen, covered the TLHS teacher appreciation, and spoke to the yearbook editors about the changes they have had to make this year due to Covid restrictions. They created a 5 minute news broadcast that covered how the pandemic has affected local businesses in the Monticello area. They also reported on how business students held an appreciation breakfast for the teachers during quarantine. They also covered the yearbook editing team’s off campus meeting. Grace Marocco said, “Working on the news broadcast was a lot of fun. Being a news anchor is actually a job that I’m interested in for the future. BPA allowed me to explore my options and gain experience.”

The Podcast event is a new one offered by BPA. TL’s team struggled with members being quarantined, but with the experience they had producing Tribe Radio with WMRS they were able to navigate the distance easily. Podcast member, Noah Johnston said, “We produced Tribe Radio during quarantine last year and got the hang of how it works to do interviews over Zoom and how to splice together different recordings, so that experience was really helpful when it came to producing our podcast.” The podcast team had to create a 3:00 – 5:00 minute podcast highlighting the impact of virtual learning on schools and universities today.

Students have had to make adjustments to make their projects work this year, but team events have proven to be a bigger hurdle. With schools closing, and some students quarantined the Podcast Team, News Broadcast Team, Small Business Management Team, Presentation Management Team, and Network Design Team have all had to hold virtual meetings and share materials via google drive and one drive. The technology department has worked with these students to make sure they had the devices, software, cameras and sound equipment to make this all possible.

BPA Advisor, Ms. Rogers said, “I knew our business students would rise to the occasion, but the work they have produced is probably some of the best I’ve seen in my eight years as an advisor.” In addition to Ms. Rogers, Scot McAtee and Susan Taylor have worked with the members to help them prepare.

We have several students who missed their shot at Nationals last year due to the pandemic. Ms. Taylor said, “I really think this could be the year we see multiple national qualifiers. We have outstanding students, and they are motivated to win.”

BPA Nationals will be held in Orlando, Florida next May. Members will have to win at Regionals in December, then win again at State competitions in March.