At the Business Professionals of America Region IV awards ceremony last month, 15 Hayes students qualified for the BPA State competition. Winners of the state competition will attend BPA Nationals in Anaheim, California.
“I spent 20 years in the business world before I became a teacher,” business teacher Martin Huedepohl said. “I know the relevance of what is taught and experienced in our business classes here at Delaware Hayes. BPA is above and beyond the standard textbook and allows students interested in business to demonstrate their knowledge and professionalism.”
Students began their projects at the beginning of the year. The finalized project includes a seven page research paper about a topic, and then that project will have to be presented to judges. The final presentation should last approximately seven minutes.
“We put work in and it paid off,” junior Connor Dutton said. “We hope to get top three at states so we can go to the national competition in California. We are currently fine tuning our paper and presentation so it will be better than before.”
Last year, senior Samuel Hall qualified for nationals and flew to Arlington, Texas to participate in the competition.
“There is a great opportunity for any of the students who compete this year at state to make it to nationals,” Huedepohl said. “All the students this year have put forth a lot of time and effort in their events. They all have a legitimate chance at making it to nationals.”
One BPA student who hopes to make it to the next round is Timothy Bumgardner, a senior who also participated in BPA last year.
“My project [category] was called ‘economic research individual,’” Bumgardener said. “I researched how raising interest rates impacts inflation. I researched historical examples of high interest rates and compared these situations to today. I also did research on other ways that the government tries to control inflation.”
Students are currently finalizing their projects in order to prepare for the state competition.
“BPA teacher Ms. Kanning and I are BPA Advisers to these students and help them plan to succeed,” Huedepohl said. “But it is so rewarding to see students who show the inner drive and do the work to want to be their best. BPA provides an amazing opportunity for students to demonstrate this.”