Business Professionals of America (BPA) will compete at state at Corpus Christi on Feb. 28 to March 2. Sixty-seven members made it to state, which is the most the club has ever taken.
“I joined BPA because I heard a lot about it last year,” junior brand ambassador Nisha Pandya said. “I saw people posting about it and talking about it. I was like ‘maybe this is something that I should look into’ because I’m part of DECA and TSA too, so it’s a good thing to add to my resume.”
The club had a 300% increase in members this year. Last year, the club had around 30 members, and now, they have 97 members. Hebron BPA makes up one-fifth of the entirety of Texas BPA.
“We had crazy growth and [we were] so proud,” Pandya said. “The one year that we chose to have this larger officer team and put BPA out there, so many people joined and many people made state. We had almost all of our kids make state; there were very few people [who] didn’t.”
BPA has 50 high school events, consisting of five different events that students can compete in: testing, application, judged, certification and pre-submit. Online events consist of testing and application events, where students are given a prompt and asked to create a Word document or format a paper – depending on the event. In-person events consist of judged events where students present in front of a judge, certification events where students compete for a certificate, and pre-submit where students create videos and send them to be scored.
“I love how there’s a really low barrier to enter, so anyone can join and be successful [in] their first year,” senior president Sai Chauhan said. “Last year was my first year and I made it like one step away from nationals. You learn a lot just from presenting in front of people, being around people and making connections with people in your state who have similar interests as you.”
Unlike other business clubs at Hebron, BPA members are allowed to compete in many different events. To advance to state, members of testing events need to make it in the top five, and members of non-testing events need to make it in the top two.
“I was the last person to leave from Hebron, the day of [the district] competition,” Pandya said. “I mean, just that pure excitement on [everyone’s] face, hearing Nisha Pandya, BPA or Hebron High School [for awards], and the way that [everyone] would just light up and go ‘yeah, Hebron.’ It was so amazing to see [us] experience that growth.”
At BPA state, there will be open events and seminars to further their interest in business. There is a “night out,” and this year, students will also have the opportunity to go to a hockey game. There will also be on-site events where students can participate and win plaques, but these competitions do not allow students to advance to nationals.
“If you’re in this club and you’re out there, speaking in front of a group of judges, [when] you go in for a job interview, you’re going to be comfortable,” BPA sponsor Ellery Smith said. “I think [the club gives] so many life skills that the kids get. I can see the direct correlation when they’re successful after high school and college.”
Nationals will take place in Chicago, Illinois, on May 10-14. Hebron has only had one national qualifier in the past two decades. However, no Hebron student has ever actually been to nationals. Nisha said she hopes they will make it to nationals, due to the club’s growth in members.
“The community aspect of BPA is amazing,” Pandya said. “I love going and competing. I think it’s just that, like the adrenaline that you get, it’s just fun to be able to be there and do that.”
