Blackhawk Technical College's Business Professionals of America (BPA) students and advisors traveled to Nashville May 6-10 for the BPA National Leadership Conference. The conference brought together BPA members from around the world to learn, compete, connect, and celebrate the BPA organization. Attendees had the chance to explore career pathways, engage with exhibitors and partners, and gain insights from professionals who are shaping today’s workforce.

Here are the Blackhawk students' results from the competition:

Marcus Evans: first place - Meeting and Event Planning Concepts; second place - Administrative Support Concepts

Lexi Schmidt: second place - Health Insurance and Medical Billing

Richard Jero and Le'Niyah Pulliam: third place - Small Business Management Team

Students receiving top 10 finishes included:

• Alexandra Jones and Michael Valdivia: Financial Analyst Team
• Lancelot Lacey: fourth place - Device Configuration and Troubleshooting
• Marcus Evans: Health Administrative Procedures; Management, Marketing, and HR Concepts; Advanced Interview Skills; Ethics and Professionalism
• Lexi Schmidt: Business Law and Ethics

Additional students who competed were Tyler Laatsch, Braunson Dietzman, Aidan Cain, and Deven Deegan. Advisors for BPA this year are Joel Schleusner, administrative chair of the business department, and Melanie Hoffman, marketing instructor.

Two of Blackhawk's members were state BPA officers for the 2025-26 school year: Marcus Evans was the State President, and Deven Deegan was the Marketing Officer. The two students participated in a number of state and national meetings during the conference.