Two Iowa Lakes Students Place at National Leadership Conference

(Estherville, Iowa) Two talented Iowa Lakes Community College students, Shelbie Hurdle and Lauri Myers, triumphantly returned from the Business Professionals of America (BPA) National Leadership Conference held in Anaheim, California, from April 26 to April 30.

Sophomore Shelbie Hurdle (Emmetsburg) placed second in Fundamental Spreadsheet and Analysis, third in Intermediate Word Processing, and earned Honorable Mentions in Presentation Management and the Meeting and Event Management categories. In addition, as part of the first two events, Hurdle took the Microsoft Certification examination for Microsoft Word and Excel passing with very high scores.

While sophomore Lauri Myers (Hartley) competed in the Human Resource Management category, earning third place by interpreting personnel policies and knowledge.

“Shelbie and Lauri worked very hard this year to achieve this success and accomplished one of their educational goals to be successful at the national competition,” explained Deb Jones, Professor and BPA Advisor at Iowa Lakes.

Founded in 1966, BPA is the premier Career and Technical Student Organization for middle school, high school, and college students preparing for careers in business, finance, management information systems, and related fields. BPA provides members with opportunities for growth through education, competition, community service, and personal development.

The BPA organization has 45,000 members in 1,800 chapters across 25 states, Puerto Rico and internationally in China, Haiti, and Peru. The BPA is an organization that supports business and information technology educators by offering co-curricular exercises based on national standards.

Iowa Lakes offers specialized programs focusing on practical hands-on activities to complement classroom instruction, which aligns with the BPA goals, giving students practical experience with meaningful skill applications.

To learn more about programs at Iowa Lakes, please visit iowalakes.edu.

Photo caption 1: Iowa Lakes students place at National BPA Leadership Conference held in Anaheim, California, on April 26 to April 30. From Left to right: Shelbie Hurdle, Deb Jones, and Lauri Myers.

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