BPA raising funds for national competition

By Drew Hampton, Staff Writer

The Business Professionals of America need students’ help.

On March 13, the OCCC chapter of BPA attended the 2007 State Leadership Conference in Tulsa, an annual event that features several competitions in business-related areas.

Remarkably, all five OCCC students competing placed in their respective categories: Merideth Dake won first place in Prepared Speech, Steven Garret won second place in Human resource management, Rachel Bryan won second place in Graphic Design Promotion, Ruth Asberry won third place in Word Processing Skills, and Club President Chris Stewart won third place in Extemporaneous Speech.

In addition to being recognized, the students were awarded scholarships ranging in value from $2,000 to $4,000.

“BPA is involved in these competitions to gain contacts, learn, and show everybody else the type of education that we get at OCCC,” Stewart said.

The club hopes to duplicate their success in the National BPA Competition being held from May 9 through May 12 in New York City, he said, but making the trip will be expensive.

To help pay for expenses, BPA will hold an Easter-themed bake sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, April 5, in the Main Building Foyer.

As the club’s final fundraiser of the semester, Stewart said that BPA will ask for donations instead of charging set prices.

For more information about the Business Professionals of America, Contact Chris Stewart at bigtyme02viking@yahoo.com.

Staff Writer Drew Hampton can be reached at StaffWriter1@occc.edu.