by Grace Rooney

Students participating in Sylvania Southview’s Financial Management program competed against 12 other schools at the regional Business Professionals of America competition (BPA) on Jan. 19 at University of Toledo. The competition tests members’ professionalism, leadership skills, career development, and personal motivation. Not only does the business competition incorporate valuable real world skills, but the program itself helps prepare students for real world scenarios involving finance and business.

At the BPA competition, business students participated in a chosen event with a team or as an individual. Southview students participated in topics such as Economic Research, Entrepreneurship, Financial Analyst Team, Global Marketing, Presentation Management, and Small Business Management. Each student spent weeks preparing for the event, putting in countless hours crafting a project and creating a professional presentation. On competition day, it was all put together and critiqued by judges. In each of the previously mentioned events, Southview placed in the top three finishes, which advanced the school to the state competition held in Columbus on March 9.

Honors Programming students also appeared at the University of Toledo on Jan. 19, competing in BPA’s Regional Java Programming Competition. As in the business competition, SV programming students took most of the top 10 spots and many are being sent to the next level of the competition.