Many classes on campus are winding down for the year, but some Redhawks are gearing up for the BPA national competition.

Just before spring break, 13 students from the school’s chapter of Business Professionals of America competed in the state leadership conference.

And out of them, 8 are proceeding to nationals in Dallas.

The 10 competitors left yesterday at five and will return early Sunday morning, competing Wednesday and Thursday, with an awards ceremony on Saturday.

Competitors prepared for months before the state conference, but even still, BPA member Pratham Shah did not anticipate his advancement to nationals.

“Oh, I was really excited when we qualified because I really didn’t think we would qualify,” he said. I” still don’t know how we qualified, but we did it and all our hard work came to fruition. And I’m just proud of all of us.”

But more than the competition, the experiences of BPA were what he valued most.

“At first I thought it would be just about studying and stuff, but then I realized the actual fun aspect of it. When we actually went to SLC, the state leader conference, I had so much fun there with all my teammates,” Shah said. I got to interact with so many people, and network with so many people from across the state. And now nationals is coming up, so I’m very excited about it. ”