The world of business might seem bleak in today’s economy, but there is no shortage of future professionals in Emporia.
Flint Hills Technical College Business Professionals of America will send six professional-minded students to Dallas in May for the student organization’s National Leadership Conference.
“BPA is a nationwide organization that focuses on students going into business and office careers,” said Steve Stone, president of both the tech college’s and the state’s chapters of the organization.
Deanna Harkins, who qualified for the national conference in the Interview Skills category, enjoys the organization’s focus on business and professional attributes.
“In BPA you get to meet new people in the business community,” she said. “It really helps you build confidence in your abilities.”
Stone said the tech college has about 12 or 13 students who are active in BPA. The school has three business-oriented programs whose students qualify to join the organization: Business Administrative Technology, a program for office professionals; Network Technology, for network administrators and computer hardware support; and Computer Programming and Design.
And the road to the national conference is not an easy one.
First, a student has to qualify in both regional and state conferences.
“A conference is where students have the opportunity to compete in events that are simulated work environments,” Stone said. “So you can do interview skills, you can do work production.”
Some competitions are tests on anything from computer history to Microsoft Network Administration. There are also team events and categories for prepared and extemporaneous speech.
At the regional level, the competition involves members within the school and is administrated by teachers and sponsors in the programs.
Next comes the state level, a much wider competition. Stone said that at the state conference in February, about 55 post-secondary students competed.
Seven students at the tech college qualified for the national conference including Stone, who won’t be attending because of his job at the Emporia Public Library. Stone qualified in three categories: Microsoft Network Administration, Extemporaneous Speech and Prepared Speech.
In addition to Stone and Harkins, five other students qualified for the national conference:
• Anna Clements is a student in the business administrative technology program.
• Cody Dedmon placed first in both Fundamentals of XHTML and VB.NET Programming.
• Ana Herrera placed fifth in Fundamental Spreadsheet Application and Top 5 Insurance Concepts.
• Mayra Lemus placed second in Integrated Office Applications.
• Dustin Mitchell placed first in both C++ Programming and Java Programming.
“Really, this is a great opportunity for these students to be able to go and compete at a national level,” Stone said. “There’s a lot of networking that goes on, people in your field that you meet and keep in touch with.”
Those networking opportunities are what Harkins anticipates.
“I’m looking forward to honing my skills and techniques,” she said, “and I’m excited to meet new people.”
This year will be Harkins’ first trip to the national conference.
“It’s very exciting,” she said, “and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
The trip won’t be cheap, though. Expenses for each student will range from $650 to $700. The group has been working throughout the year to raise money, but it’s not there yet.
“We are probably about two-thirds funded,” Stone said. “The bare minimum is $3,000, however that doesn’t include food for the students, so with that amount they would still have to pay for their meals.”
Stone said the group aims to raise $4,500. Right now, they have about $2,600.
“So we still have quite a ways to go.”
One way the group is raising money is by putting together gift baskets made up of donated products. For $1 a ticket or $5 for six tickets, people can buy a chance to win one of 10 baskets that will be given away in a drawing on April 16. The baskets can be viewed on BPA’s page on the Flint Hills Technical College Web site, www.fhtc.edu.
The group also is taking donations by check. Anyone who wants to donate money can send a check made payable to the FHTC Foundation, with Business Professionals of America in the memo line. All monetary donations are tax deductible.
Competitions aren’t the only way BPA members are learning professional skills. They also are active in the community.
“We do community service projects to encourage our members to be active in our community not just as employees but as community members and citizens,” Stone said.
And the organization’s members will carry their experiences with them throughout their lives.
“The skills that people are learning through BPA are skills that they are going to use in their workplace and in their careers,” Stone said. “Especially through the tech college, there’s a strong focus on getting your education, getting a good education quickly and being able to get out into the workforce, being able to make it financially and also be a member of the community.”