Members in the Business Professionals of America club on campus will compete in the Area 1, Region 3 Judged Event Finals on Saturday at Reedy High School. 

Finalists are assigned specific times to compete in events such as Global Marketing, Human Resource Management, Extemporaneous Speech, Interview Skills, and Ethics and Professionalism.

For junior Ifrah Zainab, the weekend’s competition will give her the opportunity to demonstrate her hard work and preparation. 

“I’m looking forward to presenting live in front of the judges and getting a chance to show them my research,” Zainab said. “I’ve been preparing by practicing the speech I wrote and some of the basics of presenting such as hand gestures, eye contact, and tone.” 

Similarly, junior Jiya Surywanshi, who is participating in two team events, has been working closely with her group to create and prepare their final plan and presentation. 

“To prepare for my events, I’ve been helping my teammates write up the business plan and having frequent meetings with them to make sure we are all on the same page. We also have been practicing our presentation and how we will be presenting to our judges,” Surywanshi said. “I’m really looking forward to presenting on Saturday to see what kind of feedback we will get from the judges.”

Despite the fact that only the top two competitors of each event advance to state, the opportunity to participate in BPA allows members to receive useful and valuable information. 

“I think no matter what the end result is, there’s a lot of benefits to be gained by competing in BPA,” Zainab said. “Especially when it comes to events like presentation management, you get the opportunity to develop public speaking, research, and design skills, which are vital for any future career, not just business.”