The Business Professionals of America~Lowell Chapter (BPA) participated in the 2020 State Leadership Conference held at the Sheraton Tara Hotel, Framingham. Lowell High School competed against 15 other high school chapters from across Massachusetts including; Assabet Valley Regional, Marlborough, Tantasqua Regional, Taconic, Waconah Regional, New Bedford Technical, South Shore Regional, Franklin County Technical, Natick High School, McCann Technical, Keefe Technical, Longmeadow and Bristol Plymouth Regional High Schools. Massachusetts also sponsors a virtual Post-Secondary Chapter for college students. Business Professionals of America offers students the chance to develop valuable leadership skills and make connections that last a lifetime.

In early March, Lowell High BPA members competed in both judged and written events, and participated in various workshops. Lowell High hosted the Torch Award 101 Workshop where chapter President Alyssa Carter and member Jayanny Olivera presented information to state members on how to log and earn Torch Points. The BPA Torch Awards Program frames and guides an individual BPA member’s leadership and service to their chapter and community. This program recognizes outstanding, actively involved members on the local, regional, state and national levels.

The chapter members attending the State Leadership Conference earned 15 different recognitions that included qualifying them to attend the 2020 National Leadership Conference (NLC) which was canceled due to Covid-19. The conference was to be held at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Lowell High competitive event place finishers were earned by:  Senior Johnny Lang placed Third in Management, Marketing and Human Resource Concepts. Our chapter Sergeant-At-Arms Luis Perez competed in Business Law & Ethics and Legal Office Procedures. Senior Kevin Truong placed First in Business Law & Ethics and Fifth in Administrative Support Concepts.

President Alyssa Carter placed Second in Banking and Finance and received a Merit Scholar award. Chapter Secretary Caitlin McNamara placed Third in Entrepreneurship. Vice President Timothy Nguyen placed first in Payroll Accounting, Banking and Finance, Personal Finance, and Administrative Support Concepts; placed Second in Financial Math & Analysis, Third in Extemporaneous Speech, and Business Meeting Management Concepts. Additionally, Timothy participated in the State Writing contest & was awarded a $75 Scholarship for NLC for responding to this prompt: How can students capitalize on their future. Giving Purpose to his Potential, Timothy was also recognized as the top scoring student for the Merit Scholar Award for his BPA knowledge, the Social Media Award sponsored by the Massachusetts BPA Officer Team and received his Diplomat Torch Award.

Sophomores Amariah Amarantes placed First in Parliamentary Procedure Concepts while Jayanny OliveIra competed in Business Law & Ethics and Legal Office Procedures,

The Lowell High Chapter is grateful for the experience BPA has given them although the seniors are saying goodbye and going their separate ways, the rest of the chapter is eager to continue their journey through BPA and can’t wait for the 2021 National Leadership Conference to be held in Orlando, Florida in May 2021!  Any Lowell High student interested in joining BPA can email our advisor, Jill Taylor, [email protected] for additional information including joining our Google Classroom for weekly chapter meetings through the end of the school year.  You can also learn more about the competitive events program and all that BPA offers to its’ members at http://www.bpa.org​ and begin to Give Purpose to Your Potential with BPA at Lowell High School