Triton BPA celebrates with 10 stateChampions, 14 National Winner

Triton Business Professionals of America (BPA) Chapter members came away from the State Leadership Conference with a truly dominant performance. Triton crowned 10 State Champions, including the first ever 2X State Champion, 14 national trip winners and 14 Top 10 finishers.

“I honestly can’t find the words to describe everything I’m feeling right now,” said Advisor Rebecca

Goossens. “We had a third of our chapter who just won State, almost 50% won trips to Nationals, and roughly 85% of our students competing placed in the Top 10. I’m just awestruck.”

The conference was held March 6-8 and saw over 2,000 members compete from 80 chapters across the state.

Katya Wheeler became the first ever Triton 2X State Champion in Computer Modeling, and Ashley Romero had the distinction of being crowned a “Double” State Champion by winning both Advanced Desktop Publishing and Website Design Team along with teammates Anyely Dominguez-Marquez, Bryar Quimby, and Alisson Velasco. Also claiming the top title were Salma Fernandez for Fundamental Desktop Publishing, the Global Marketing Team of Corey Lilledahl and Camila Medina, and Logan Skjeveland for the MN Trading Pin Design Contest. Vika Kundel in Fundamental Spreadsheet and Abigail Wirkus in Health Administration Procedures claimed spots as State Runner-Ups, and Bryar Quimby’s third-place performance in Graphic Design and AJ Kozisek’s fourth place in Payroll Accounting rounded out Triton’s National Trip Winners.

Also gracing the stage at the Grand Awards Ceremony were Abrielle Emanuel in Administrative Support Research Project, the Broadcast News Team of Holly Harvey, Diego Ibarra-Castillo, EJ Okeefe, and Alan Ortiz, AJ Kozisek in Financial Math & Analysis, Frankie Gann in Graphic Design, Genevieve Starkson in Health Administration Procedures, Vika Kundel in Payroll Accounting, Corey Lilledahl and Logan Skjeveland in Presentation Individual, and the Website Design Team of Dora Chable, RoseLyn Liudahl, and Jade Scovill.

“We have such a rich and successful BPA track record at Triton that I think our students sometimes forget how just qualifying for State is a huge accomplishment itself,” said Goossens. “This level of success is uncommon for other schools, and I’m just so, so proud of all our members on their achievements, no matter their results.”

BPA’s competitive events program allows students to compete in nearly 70 events focused in the areas of business administration, finance and accounting, information technology, video production, human resources, computer programming, graphic design, marketing and entrepreneurship, and health services. The competitions are designed to prepare students to succeed and assess real-world business skills and problem-solving abilities.

After qualifying earlier this year, regional winners put their talents to the test during the State Leadership Conference.

This May, Dominguez-Marquez, Fernandez, Kozisek, Kundel, Lilledahl, Medina, Quimby, Romero, Skjeveland, Velasco, Wheeler, and Wirkus will travel to Orlando, Fla. to compete with thousands of top students from across the United States, Puerto Rico, and internationally at the 60th Annual National Leadership Conference — the pinnacle of BPA competition.