Bloom and Bloom Trail Students Going to State in BPA Competition

When it’s time for Bloom and Bloom Trail students to enter the business world they will be prepared. Recently, Bloom and Bloom Trail students won various events in the area’s Business Professionals of America Club. Several students from both schools will now compete in State competition.

Dr. Lenell Navarre spoke about his support for his winning students. Bloom Township high schools have participated in the Business Professionals of America Club for several years.

“It’s great to see the students achieve at these levels for BPA” said Dr. Navarre. “What it does it helps them develop into student leaders. At the same time, they’re discovering their passion on how to change this world.”

Last year, Bloom student Diego Origel took first place in Nationals for 1st Place Computer Modeling, he is the National Champion. Diego took first place again in regionals and will return to state Business Professionals of America Club and hopefully go on to Nationals again to retain his title. Other students speak of their experiences competing.

“These events expose business practices to students like myself” said Claudia Serrato who is a senior at Bloom Trail who took first place in two BPA events at regional. “I’m doing business law and ethics, which teaches you laws that big corporations abide by to meet federal standards. It’s so unique because this is something you don’t learn in class.”

Getting to state last year was one of Serrato’s goals, she is hoping to advance to Nationals for her senior year. She is planning on majoring in Geo Science in college. “This made me focus on business aspects and to reach a goal.”

Estefany Morales is another Bloom Trail student who took a first place at the BPA regional competition and will be headed for state competition. The senior who lives in South Chicago Heights competed for the first time this year. “It’s actually been a lot of fun” said Morales. “My friend Claudia asked me to join BPA. It has surpassed my expectations and has helped give me real life skills. I feel like I have a greater understanding of business which will better me as an adult.”

Anthony Resendez from Steger placed in two events and will be going to state competition. “This is my first year in BPA competition” explains Resendez. “I decided to participate in the future I plan on majoring in business. Two years ago, I went online selling some of my stuff on ebay, I really enjoyed that. Some people have even started their own businesses doing that. I got very interested in business because of learning about transactions.”

Resendez who is a senior at Bloom Trail speaks about all he has learned in such a short time.

“One course that I found very helpful was Business in IT, which I plan on using” said Resendez. “I’m honored to place. This is such a different club than all the other clubs at school because we get to use what we learn being business oriented.”

Maria Vasquez from Chicago Heights attends Bloom high school. Vasquez got first place in two divisions. Fundamental accounting and Graphic Design promotion.

For the senior, it is her third BPA competition. Vasquez began getting involved when she attended STEM academy through District 170. “The teacher encouraged me to join” said Vasquez. “In 8^th grade we went to BPA Nationals with video productions. I learned so much last year at BPA. This club is going to help me in the future.”

Another Bloom student who won state competition is Naomi Miranda. The senior from Chicago Heights has also been involved in BPA competition since middle school. “I enjoyed video production when we were in middle school” Miranda said. “It was a project that we worked together as a team. BPA is also very competitive. A lot of us will be competing in the business world, BPA has truly helped prepare us for that.” Miranda plans to study engineering. Because of her involvement in BPA, STEM career has been her focus. “I want to learn more about our world so I can innovate and make our future better.”

Students from Bloom who are heading to BPA state competition are:

Maria Vasquez

1st Place Fundamental Accounting

1st Place Graphic Design Promotion

Julio Cornejo

1st Place Advanced Spreadsheet Applications

1st Place Digital Media Production

Naomi Miranda

3rd Place Business Law and Ethics

Diego Origel

1st Place Computer Modeling-Diego is also the reigning NATIONAL CHAMPION in that event.

Alicia Bradford

1st Place Advanced Interview Skills

Caleb Avila

1st Place Prepared Speech

Vanessa Bucio

2nd Place Prepared Speech

2nd Place Extemporaneous Speech

Ayala Bond and Dulce Hernandez (Team)

2nd Place Small Business Management Team

Students from Bloom Trail headed to BPA State competition are;

Personal financial management

1^st Place Estefany Morales

4^th Place Anthony Resendez

Business Law and Ethics

1^st Place Claudia Serrato

Graphic Design and Promotion

2^nd Place Anthony Resendez

Entrepreneurship

1^st Place Lillie Futrell

Small business management team

1^st Place Estefany Morales & Claudia Serrato

Interview Skills

2^nd Place Shenyari Simmons

The state competition will take place February 27-29 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Oak Brook.

“It’s important for our students to learn about business” said Dr. Navarre. “They also need the experiences of BPA to be successful in the world of business.”