Mid-State Technical College students have again earned top awards in the Workplace Skills Assessment Program (WSAP) Competitive Events at the Business Professionals of America (BPA) Wisconsin State Leadership Conference held in Wausau, Feb. 25–26. Mid-State Business Technology Instructor and BPA chapter advisor Sharon Behrens was also named statewide advisor of the year at the event.

• Business Management student Lindsey Ranes earned first and second place respectively in the College Payroll Accounting and College Accounting competitions. Raines also received one of four $200 Mike Tokheim scholarships recognizing outstanding BPA members who exemplify the organization’s values of leadership, service and extraordinary involvement.
• Jennifer Mauritz, Accounting student, earned first and second place respectively in Federal Income Tax Accounting and College Payroll Accounting as well as fourth place in Personal Financial Management. Mauritz also earned an Executive Torch Award, a local chapter award recognizing her skills across seven categories: Leadership; Service; Cooperation; Knowledge; Friendship; Love, Hope, Faith; and Patriotism.
• Rhonda Martinson took home first place in Interview Skills. Martinson graduated from the Business Management associate degree program last May, also earning technical diplomas in Entrepreneurship, Human Resources Assistant and Project Management. She is currently enrolled in Health & Wellness Promotion classes. 
• Tara Chapman, Business Management student, earned fifth place in Fundamental Word Processing.

“It feels wonderful to receive these awards,” said Jennifer Mauritz, Marshfield, who finished in the top five in competition for the second consecutive year. “BPA is a fun opportunity to step outside of my comfort level and see that I can still be successful, and it has helped me improve my leadership skills and become an overall better person. I have also created incredible friendships through this club and have made great connections, which will help me when I rejoin the workforce.”

“I’m grateful for this opportunity to let Mid-State’s amazing students shine, gain confidence in their abilities and be recognized for their hard work,” said Mid-State Business Technology Instructor and BPA chapter advisor Sharon Behrens. “I am honored to be named statewide advisor of the year, but seeing how well our students perform in this competition is a real privilege.” 

According to Behrens, this is the third year Mid-State’s BPA club participated in the WSAP Competitive Events at BPA’s state conference since reinstating the club in fall 2018. “I’m just so proud of how far we’ve come in a few short years,” she said. “Our students’ decision to compete again this year despite the challenges of the pandemic show that we are on track to continue to grow our support for their efforts at BPA’s state and national competitions for years to come,” she said. 

Placing in the top five for their judged and non-judged events qualify Martinson, Mauritz, Ranes and Chapman to compete in BPA’s Virtual National Leadership Conference, April 26 – May 9, 2021.

BPA’s competitive events give students the opportunity to demonstrate workplace skills learned through business education curricula. Students prepare for and compete in contests in over 90 categories, under five Assessment Areas including Finance, Business Administration, Management Information Systems, Digital Communication & Design and Management, Marketing & Communication.

Business Professionals of America is a national career and technical student organization consisting of 25 state associations and more than 45,000 members that provides networking, business-related projects and competitive events to help students achieve their goals for self-improvement, leadership development, professionalism, community service and career development.

To learn more about Mid-State’s programs in the Business, Management and Administration cluster, visit mstc.edu/programs.