January 25, 2012
01/26/12 Shari Bloom is in her second year of teaching business and sponsoring Business Professionals of America (BPA) at Argos Jr. Sr. High School. Bloom started BPA last year because she felt it was a club that she was very passionate about. She said, “BPA helps kids get familiar with business by getting them involved in competition in over 85 events.” Kids choose from events in the categories of Financial Services, Administrative Support, Information Technology and Management/Marketing/Human Resources. Argos students chose 2 events and start preparing for the district competition back in October. Bloom said, “We set up before and after school work sessions and many times, kids come in during study hall to work on their projects.”
The district level competition was last weekend at Warsaw High School and Argos competed against 5 other schools. As it turns out, they surpassed any and all possible expectations that Bloom had for the kids. She said, “We had 26 kids compete, and 26 are going on in either one or both of their events. In the seven years I have been involved with BPA, I have never seen a school have 100% of their members advance from the district to the state level.” She continued, “This just shows how much time and effort each of the kids put into their work! I am so proud of all of them and I want each and every one of them to experience the next level of competition.” She hopes to have some advance to nationals in April.
The help offset the cost of the trip the Argos BPA is seeking donations. Bloom said, “It’s going to cost almost $4,000 for the kids and I, plus a couple of chaperones to attend the contest. We are going to do some more fundraising, but are asking for donations from area businesses.” She closed by saying, “Anything given us to help our kids get to the next level would be appreciated!”
Picture: Bottom row left to right: Josiah Osborn, Carly McCay,
2nd row left to right: Jamie Ewing, Tyler Lyon, Madi Williams, Sabrina Brown, Ashley Allen, Kaitlin Howard, HeatherSentz
3rd row left to right: Landon West, Henry Harrell, Libby Moyer, Cassie Speirs, Ronald Tanner, Julie Rogers, Austin Saenz, Jennifer Sullivan
4th row left to right: Elmer Roque, Courtney Miller, Brittani Brown, Noah Spicer, Michael Williams, AubrieDeWulf, AlexDeWulf
Not pictured: Samantha Flower, Kayla Sliter