For Members

Why BPA?

State Scholarships

National Scholarships

Special Recognition Awards

Competitive Events

Texas Intern Program

Run for Office

WHY BPA?

Gain real life skills
Qualify for scholarships
Make connections to the business world
Hold an office
Participate in democratic elections
Earn awards and recognition
Opportunity to participate in skills competition
Become active in community service
Meet people with similar interests
Participate in conferences and workshops on regional,
state, and
national levels
Experience leadership development and team
building techniques
Experience personal and professional growth
Lifetime opportunities

National BPA Member Video Production

Business Professionals of America Texas Association
State Scholarship Information 2009

One student from each of the fifteen regions in Texas will be awarded a $500.00 scholarship based on the following guidelines.
Click on What's New to see this year's winners!

Eligibility:

Applicants must have served a minimum of 2 years as a paid member of BPA
Applicants must currently be a paid state and national member of BPA
Applicants must be a graduating senior planning to continue his/her education
Applicants must have participated in BPA Competition
Applicants must be nominated by their chapter advisor

Application:

Complete the application form (DEADLINE: February 15, 2009)
Include a Resume with the following: Educational Career Objectives, Education, Work Experience, BPA Activities
(including competitions), Community Service, Honors and Awards
Submit 3 letters of recommendation (1) teacher (other than advisor), (2) Community Service Representative,
(3) Administrator/Counselor
Unofficial Transcript (must include 1st semester of senior year)
Nomination letter by Chapter Advisor
Answer the following essay in 100 words or less.

Describe a situation that demonstrates initiative and your willingness to go above and beyond.

Notification:
The Scholarship recipients will be announced at the Awards Ceremony at the State Leadership Conference each year.
A certificate will be issued at this time in lieu of the actual check.

Receipt of Scholarship: Recipients must follow the directions below to receive the scholarship:

Accept the scholarship before February 1 prior to the next State Leadership Conference
Provide an official registration from the post-secondary school. The receipt must provide recipients
complete name, address, and social security number.
An on-line generated registration confirmation printout will not be allowed.
A check will be issued and sent via certified mail by the treasurer when requirements are met.

Selection process: All scholarship packets are reviewed by the State Board of Directors Scholarship committee at the
regular scheduled Board of Directors meeting prior to the State Leadership Conference – personal appearance is not
required by the student.

Winners are selected in each Region based on the highest score.
DO NOT SEND ORIGINALS THEY WILL NOT BE RETURNED.

Download Application
Send completed applications to:

            Donna Lowe
            Guyer High School
            7501 Teasley Lane
            Denton, TX 76210

Competitive Events

The Workplace SkillsAssessment Program (WSAP) is an integral part of Business Professionals of America. The goal of the program is to provide all business students with the opportunity to demonstrate workplace skills learned through business education curricula. A member may enter one individual and/or one team event in the Secondary andAssociate divisions; in two events (only one of which may be a team event) in the Middle Level division; and three events (only one of which may be a team event) in the Post-secondary division. Events are offered at the regional, state, and national level in the following categories:

Financial Services
Administrative Support
Information Technology
Management/Marketing/Human Resources

The WSAP Guide contains the guidelines for each event. You begin competing at the regional level in Texas. State qualifiers advance to the State Leadership Conference (SLC) in March. At the SLC, those placing as national qualifiers advance to the National Leadership Conference (NLC), held in late April or early May.

Click to download the WSAP Guide.

Special Recognition Awards

An active BPA chapter is an involved chapter. There are many Special Recognition Awards designed to provide individual and/or chapter recognition. Recognition is awarded at the Regional, State and National Leadership Conferences. These awards include the following:

Air Force Recruiting Salute Award – to encourage and recognize chapters for outstanding citizenship, compassionate community service leadership and achievement, and support for American free enterprise.
American Red Cross – to encourage BPA chapters to provide volunteer services for the American Red Cross.
BPA Marketing and Public Relations – to encourage chapters to promote the image of Business Professionals of America and its members.
Chapter Activities Award of Excellence – to recognize local chapters for their outstanding activities and program of work and to promote all local chapters to strive for an outstanding program of activities.
Community Action – to encourage chapters to become actively involved in community betterment, school improvement, election-year activities, and energy-related activities.
Entrepreneurship Exploration – to encourage individuals to have a better understanding of the American free enterprise system and to study the role of the entrepreneur and small business management.
Member Recruiter – to encourage members to recruit new BPA national members.
Merit Scholar – to recognize members and advisors for their knowledge of Business Professionals of America.
National Center Capital Improvements Campaign – to conduct a capital improvement campaign for the benefit of the National Center and to provide individual and group recognition to all contributors.
Safety Awareness – to encourage and recognize chapters for their involvement and development of unique safety programs.
Anti-Violence Awareness Emphasis – to encourage members to become involved in programs designed to reduce violence as a means of response to conflict and programs.
Drug Awareness Emphasis – to encourage members to become actively involved in drug awareness programs and share their knowledge with others.
Special Olympics – to encourage chapters to become actively involved in Special Olympics. The State Association has raised $2,326.70 for Texas Special Olympics.
Professional Cup – awarded to state associations annually for the greatest participation in Special Recognition and Torch awards. Click here for more information on the Special Recognition Awards.
Torch Awards – a special program offering individual recognition awards to members who participate in a wide variety of personal growth and service activities. There are seven (7) activity areas in the Torch awards program:

Leadership
Service
Cooperation
Knowledge
Friendship
Love, Hope, Faith
Patriotism

A very special ceremony surrounds an explanation of the nine “torches”. (In the Torch ceremony, Love, Hope and Faith are considered separate “torches”, giving a total of nine torches in the seven activity areas). Members strive to achieve recognition at each of the following four levels by earning specified points in each of the seven divisions:

Executive Award – given by the local chapters when a member earns 10 points in each of the seven divisions.
Diplomat Award – given by the regional organization when a member earns 30 points in each of the seven divisions.
Statesman Award – given by the state association when a member earns 50 points in each of the seven divisions.
Ambassador Award – given by the national association when a member earns 70 points in each of the seven divisions.

Click here for more information on the Torch Awards program.

TEXAS INTERN PROGRAM

The areas for the Interns are as follows:

Intern Desk—Students will be responsible for checking in the Interns, assigning Interns, answering questions, serving as the information desk, serving as the point of contact for staff needing assistance.
Registration—Students will be in charge of stuffing packets, counting out the conference souvenirs, sorting registration materials and correcting name badges.
Courtesy Corp—Students will be responsible for assisting as needed by being visible and running errands, moving materials, providing information, monitoring sessions and assisting staff.
Headquarters—Students will be responsible for assisting conference staff in setup and take down and assisting as needed in headquarters as runners. Students will not handle testing materials.
Photo Station—Students at the conference will have the opportunity to share their conference pictures to be included in the Conference In-Review slide show to be shown prior to the Closing Session on Saturday afternoon. Interns at this station will be assisting with the download of photos, selecting, editing and resizing photos for use in the show. Experience with photo downloads is preferred.
Multimedia Team—Students will be building the Conference In-Review slide show for the closing session. Students will be taking the downloaded photos from students’ cameras, reformatting, resizing, and fixing the graphics and importing them into a slide show presentation. Experience with graphics and slide shows is preferred.
Proctor Assistants—Students will be responsible for checking room setups, checking on proctors and judges and accommodating their needs. This is a great public relations opportunity.
General Events—Students will be working with the Open Events. Students will assist with the testing setup, posting start and end times, and stamping Test Cards. Students will not handle testing materials.

We want to emphasize that students are there to assist sponsors and should not interfere with the contests or the testing procedures. The Interns will be identified by a ribbon on their name badge. Those students working as Proctor Assistants in the contest areas will be at an Intern Table located in the area around the contest rooms. Interns will be instructed to introduce themselves and check in with you periodically, but should not interfere with contest administration. They are there to assist you and the members in finding contest locations or sending messages to headquarters. They are available as runners and helpers for you and any Intern should be able to assist you.

Interns will sign up for their assignments when they arrive in Austin and check-in at the Intern Desk in front of headquarters. Please remind your Interns to check the conference schedule for the Intern Orientation. If Interns are unable to attend the session, they can be debriefed at the Intern Desk. If you have students working as Interns, you will be able to check the sign-in sheet to see if they completed their requirements and a copy of their time sheet will be sent to you after SLC.

Intern applications are due February, 2009 and we look forward to working with the students who will beselected for the program. This is a great opportunity for our students and we would like to thank you for sharing your students with us.

Don’t miss out on your opportunity to participate in the Texas Intern Program at the State Leadership Conference in Austin, Texas, March 2009!

Downloads:
Intern Opportunity Guidelines
Word Document | PDF File
Intern Application Form
Word Document | PDF File

Contact Diana Weber via email or phone at 830-372-5770 x20511 with questions about the program.