Senior Tyler Rhoades, senior Ayush Krishnamony, and junior Sankalp Subhendu continue their work for Business Professionals of America (BPA) as their preparations for the State Level Conference (SLC) at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel and Conference Center on the 28th of February to the 2nd of March have helped them qualify for the National competition.

“I won first place in both events,” Rhoades said.

Rhoades chose both a global marketing and a computer modeling event. Last year, Rhoades won second place for computer modeling at the SLC and tied for first place at the National competition.

This year’s computer modeling event involved designing an innovative school that incorporated ergonomics. The global marketing team was tasked with making an expansion plan proposal for a fictional tourism company.

Rhoades joined BPA in his junior year after being recommended by BPA mentor and chapter advisor Mr. Scott.

“After seeing friends of mine in previous years perform well at it and seemed to have a good time competing within the various competitions, I joined,” Rhoades said.

He explained that BPA allowed him to explore his interests.

“I love CAD (computer-aided design) modeling and have had a blast with it in the past, so the computer modeling event let me be creative with it.”

“As for global (marketing), it’s fun to research areas of industry that you don’t get exposed to on a day to day basis,” Rhoades said. Rhoades’s global marketing team was joined by Subhendu.

Kirshnamony won first place while competing in the economic research event alongside his team. They were required to conduct research, present these findings on a research paper, give a presentation, and respond to questions from multiple judges.

Rhoades, Kirshnamony, and Subhendu, after hours of preparation and research, all believed that the awards from BPA reflected their efforts. “Most people look over the minuscule details and it becomes a pattern throughout their whole project,” Subhendu said.

In the past, they’ve prepared by practicing and reciting their presentations. “I could easily give you my presentations from this year and last because I memorized them so much,” Rhoades said.

But BPA hasn’t only taught repetition and memorization. Kirshnamony has learned professionalism and “thinking on your feet.”

Additionally, Subhendu stated that “some people can do things better than you but that doesn’t make you bad. That just means you have to work harder.”