Recent trip to New York proves profitable
Karen Hunter, a local resident, recently returned from a trip to New York City,
where she competed in the National Leadership Conference with Business
Professionals of America
(BPA).
Karen is a member of the BPA Chapter at Lewis-Clark State College. She competed at the State Level in Boise and placed First in Advanced Word Processing and Second in Basic Office Procedures. She continued on to the National Level, where she placed seventh in Advanced Word Processing and fifth in Basic Office Procedures.
The team from Lewis-Clark State College consisted of 12 team members, who all brought home national rankings. Of the 23 states, Idaho brought home the majority of the highest placements in the country.
Business Professionals of America is the leading Career Technical Student Organization (CTSO) for students pursuing careers in business management, office administration, information technology and other related career fields.
BPA has more than 51,000 members in over 2,300 chapters in 23 states, and growing! It has chapters in the high school and college level schools. BPA is a "co-curricular" organization that supports business and information technology educators by offering curriculum based on national standards. Resources and materials are available on-line and designed to be customized to a school's program.
The Workplace Skills Assessment Program (WSAP) prepares students to succeed and assess real-world business skills and problem solving abilities in finance, management, IT and computer applications.
Exploring “The Big Apple”
Karen’s son, Tony, a recent
Orofino
High School graduate, accompanied her on the trip. In between competitions, they
enjoyed a bus tour of Manhattan Island, a harbor cruise past the Statue of
Liberty, tours of the Guggenheim and Frick Museums, as well as a journey to the
top of the Empire
State Building and
Rockefeller Center. They attended a performance of the Broadway show “Wicked,”
as well as an entertaining evening at an authentic jazz club. They found that
native New Yorkers are actually very helpful when you look like a lost tourist.
Just for fun, Karen wore her Orofino Maniacs shirt out and about and got lots of unusual looks from people there. One man even came up to her in Times Square and asked if she was from Idaho. She said yes, and he said his cousin lives in Orofino! What a small world!
Karen would like to see a BPA chapter started at Orofino High School. Other local high school BPA chapters that attended the National Conference were from Clearwater Valley High School, Kendrick High School, Lewiston High School, and Highland High School. BPA is a wonderful organization that gives recognition to the skills and talents students learn that they can use in their careers in business.
Karen recently graduated from LCSC with two Bachelors Degrees, and is currently working as a paralegal with a law firm in Lewiston.
Pictured top left: Karen Hunter competed at the National Leadership conference with Business Professionals of America, placing seventh in Advanced Word Processing and fifth in Basic Office Procedures. She is shown with her medals.
Pictured lower right: Tony Johnson and mom, Karen Hunter on the observation deck, at the top of the Empire State Building in New York City.