Marching uniformly in pinstripe suits and pencil skirts, an assembly of business professionals overcame fellow competitors in public events such as newscasting, global marketing, and graphic design among other things. And they’re only in high school.

The Cannon Falls BPA, or Business Professionals of America, participated in the annual BPA region two competition, held at Sentry College in White Bear Lake. With multiple teams competing, Cannon was fruitful as six groups are going to state: News Broadcasting team (Riley Meyers, Olivia Thomley, Anja Black, and Morgan Roeber), Global Marketing team (Ruby Reardon and Jenna Fox), Administrative Support team  (Alese Bentson, Breanna Sandstrom, Katlyn Otterness, and Anna Bentson), along with individual competitors Chase Schaefer ( Human Resource Management), Riley Meyers (Graphic Design), and Garett Klavon (Banking and Finance). Klavon stated that the competition “was a really fun time. I enjoyed spending a lot of time with my friends thinking of ways to improve my paper. Really looking forward to state in March.”

BPA is an extra-curricular that was formed in YEAR. The current coach, Matthew Juncker, has been running these business professionals for the past four years. “It’s been fun with these kids,” says Juncker, “ I’m really more here to clear up any questions they have about their category.” BPA is more a solo activity than a full extra-curricular. The members do the majority of their research and work independently, unless they participate in a group category. Even then, the activity does its job of preparing the kids for the business world – dog eats dog field where having the know how and self dependence is critical importance. This, however, is high school. The kids are celebrating their victories and now preparing for the next level. “I  have high expectations for this group,” Juncker continues, “They are the kids who worked the hardest and I feel some of these kids have a good chance of making it all the way to nationals.”

With State in their sights, Cannon’s Business Professionals of America will do what it takes to work their way up to the top, Nationals. With their mindset, it’s nothing personal, it’s just business.