Business Professionals of America students place
Six students from the Kirkwood Cedar Rapids Business Professionals of America chapter joined over 5,000 other conference delegates from across the nation to participate in the National Leadership Conference held in Reno, Nevada, May 6 through May 11.
In addition to the current students, chapter alumnus Amanda Shakespeare served throughout the conference as the national secretary/treasurer. Business & IT faculty member Kimberly Schultz is the advisor for the Kirkwood Cedar Rapids chapter.
At the Award’s General Session, Kirkwood’s Josh Sevcik and Jacob Starks earned the first place plaque for the Software Engineering Team contest. Also on stage was Peter Dunbar who garnered two honorable mention medallions. Dunbar placed fifth in the Insurance Concepts Open Event and eighth place in the Parliamentary Procedure Concepts Open Event.
Other students participating at the conference and their respective placing were:
• Nichole Vislisel—14th, Keyboarding Production
• Josh Sevcik—15th, Fundamentals of XHTML
• Mindy Nachtman—19th, Database Applications
• Peter Dunbar—20th, Banking & Finance
• Peter Dunbar—22nd, Advanced Accounting
• Mindy Nachtman—24th, Fundamental Accounting
• Kelsey Williams—32nd, Banking & Finance
At the National Officer Honor Reception held on Friday, May 9, Amanda Shakespeare earned the Outstanding National Officer award. This award is given to the one officer from both the secondary and post-secondary division that best exemplifies the leadership, commitment, and dedication needed to serve in an officer position. At the awards session, Shakespeare was awarded one of three National Merit Scholarships. As a Kirkwood student, Shakespeare earned her degree in the spring of 2007 and was last year’s Outstanding Student for the Administrative Assistant program.
Business Professionals of America is a national organization for high school, college, and middle school students preparing for careers in business and information technology. The organization’s activities and programs complement classroom instruction by giving students practical experience through application of the skills learned at school.