December 22, 2015 

 

Contacts:

University Relations & Communications, 657-2266

Story by Blair Koch

 

MSU BILLINGS NEWS SERVICES — Winter break may have begun for Montana State University Billings students, but you wouldn’t have guessed that with all of the academic action happening on the City College campus.


About 300 regional high school students are competing with the Business Professionals of America chapters and just like they have for over a decade, are utilizing the City College campus for the intense business skills feud.

 

Sarah Wiseman, 14, a freshman with Billings West, said this is her first BPA competition. She duked it out among several other high schoolers in events like ‘fundamentals of word processing’ and ‘spreadsheets.’ She said she is quite nervous about her performance in ‘basic office procedures,’ a competition she has prepared for by learning how to behave in a typical office environment and the systems they have.

 

“I want a career in business and they say a good way to get ahead is to be involved in clubs,” Wiseman said. “BPA seemed like a really good club because it dealt with business specifically.”

 

As far as the ongoing competition, Wiseman said even if she doesn’t win any of her events it is a great experience and one that has given her more confidence. Plus, she has quite a few years to come back and try again.

 

“Ours is one of the biggest regions in Montana and with us bringing close to 300 students having this regional competition at City College is really great,” said Billings West BPA Coach and Nicole Bogunovich. That school alone brought 74 students.

 

Bogunovich, who teaches business and marketing at the school, said BPA is a great club that helps students build real-life business skills from analyzing financial statements, accounting and simply building public speaking skills.

 

“We’ll return to the City College campus later this school year to begin our state tournament,” she said. “It’s just a great place.”

City College Clifford Coppersmith said the school is proud to be the location of the annual competition.

 

“We’re excited that they find the campus accommodating and return year after year,” he said. "Anytime we can extend the offering of our school to meet the needs of the community and beyond is a good thing. We also certainly hope that some of these area high school students, as they consider their college careers, keep in mind the opportunities City College at Montana State University Billings has already provide."