The Lavina High School chapter attended the Region 6 Leadership Conference on December 16 and 17, 2025 at Montana State University, Billings. Schools included in our region are Lavina, Broadview, Laurel, Lockwood, Billings West, Billings Senior, Skyview, Huntley Project, and Shepherd.  These schools send their best and brightest to show off their business skills.   Our conferences are also a chance for young people to network with peers from other schools.  100% of our chapter is advancing to the State Leadership Conference!  Here are the results:

Addi Nelson: 1st in Entrepreneurship, 5th in Advanced Accounting

Ava Mallo: 1st in Legal Office Procedures, 3rd in Health Insurance & Medical Billing

Emalyn Jansen: 7th in Fundamental Spreadsheet

Emily Mihet: 1st in Admin Support Research Project, 2nd Health Insurance & Medical Billing, 2nd Health Admin       Concepts, 4th Medical Coding

Garrett Contway: 2nd in Financial Analyst Team, 2nd Small Business Management Team

Ian Hanson: 2nd in Financial Analyst Team, 2nd Small Business Management Team, 8th Business Law & Ethics

Keeley Fauth: 2nd in Financial Analyst Team

Lillie Jansen: 2nd in Medical Coding

Michael Mihet: 7th in Device Configuration and Troubleshooting

Tristan Mallo: 9th in Fundamental Spreadsheet

Valentina Sanguins: 1st in Health Insurance & Medical Billing, 2nd Small Business Management Team, 3rd Server Admin Using Microsoft, 3rd Medical Coding, 7th Parliamentary Procedure Concepts

        The State Leadership Conference will be held at MSUB on March 8-10, 2026. The theme is "Raise the Bar."

MONTANA BPA EXCELS AT NATIONAL BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS OF AMERICA CONFERENCE 2025 IN ORLANDO

Business Professionals of America (BPA) chapters were among the 6,825 attendees representing nearly 800 school chapters who attended the 2025 BPA National Leadership Conference in Orlando, FL on May 7-11, 2025.  While in Orlando, students vied for top honors in BPA’s Workplace Skill Assessment Program competitions, which cover the areas of business administration; digital communication and design; finance; health administration; information technology; and management, marketing, and communication.  Conference participants also attended professional development workshops, received awards for community service activities, and helped elect the BPA’s 2025-2026 national student leadership team.  Montana’s delegation represented 60 secondary chapters and 11 middle level chapters and 1 collegiate chapter.  Montana Association had 518 members and guests in attendance. Emily Mihet, Rachel Mihet, LouAnn Peters, Valentina Sanguins and Reese Wallis represented the Lavina Chapter.

Emily Mihet received the Ambassador Torch Award.

Rachel Mihet finished in the top three in the nation and received a trophy in her event:  2^nd Place, Medical Coding.

Overall, Montana BPA had 19 members crowned National Champions!

The 2026 National Leadership Conference will be held in Nashville Tennessee on May 2026.  Celebrating the 60th anniversary the theme will be Amplify Your Impact!

Montana BPA 2025 State Leadership Conference

The 2025 Montana BPA State Leadership Conference was held in Billings on March 9-11. Students from 103 Montana schools demonstrated their knowledge in business and technological skills and abilities in 93 different competitive events from within the five core assessment areas of Finance, Business Administration, Management Information Systems, Digital Communication & Design, Management, Marketing & Communication and Health Administration.

The following Lavina member was celebrated for being approved for the Statesman Torch Award:  Emily Mihet

BPA students were recognized  as Member Recruiter Recipients 2025 for their efforts in recruiting new members: Ian Hanson, Ava Mallo, Valentina Sanguins, Lillian Jansen, Garrett Contway, Emily Mihet.

Members pictured on the right placed in the top ten in their respective events.

BPA Lavina, Montana students will now have the opportunity to travel to Orlando, Florida to compete in the 2025 BPA National Leadership Conference which will be held May 7-11. The following students will attend: LouAnn Peters, Rachel Mihet, Reese Wallis, Emily Mihet, Valentina Sanguins. Business Professionals of America is the leading CTSO (Career Technical Student Organization) for students pursuing careers in business management, finance, office administration, information technology, health administration and other related career fields. 

2025 Regional Leadership Conference

The members of Lavina Chapter attend the Region 6 Leadership Conference at Montana State University, Billings on December 16/17, 2024. Members competed against the many other schools in our region. In attendance from Lavina were: Wyatt Thaut, Faustine Anies, Briana Thaut, Emily Mihet, Lillian Jansen, LouAnn Peters, Valentina Sanguins, Ian Hanson, Garrett Contway, Keeley Fauth, Katherine Egge, Cody Wessel, Rachel Mihet, Mikayla Moyers, Ava Mallo, Emalyn Jansen, Tristan Mallo, and Madison Jones. Reese Wallis attended virtually.

The 2025 State Leadership Conference will take place in Billings, MT in March 2025.  

National Leadership Conference

Lavina Students Recognized at the Business Professionals of America National Leadership Conference in Chicago

Ava Mallo from Lavina Business Professionals of America (BPA) chapter was among the 6,500 attendees representing nearly 800 school chapters who attended the 2024 BPA National Leadership Conference in Chicago, Illinois, May 10-14, 2024.  LouAnn Peters also qualified, but was unable to attend.

While in Chicago, students vied for top honors in BPA’s Workplace Skill Assessment Program competitions, which cover the areas of business administration; digital communication and design; finance; health administration; information technology; and management, marketing and communication. Conference participants also attended professional development workshops, received awards for community service activities, and elected BPA’s 2024–2025 national student leadership team. Ava competed in Medical Insurance and Billing.

While in Chicago, participants also had opportunities to network with other BPA members and business leaders, visit famous attractions in the region, and participate in several community service activities honoring the Special Olympics, BPA’s national service project.

The 2024 National Leadership Conference was presented by Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, the leading provider of certification exam development, delivery and program management services.

Business Professionals of America is the leading CTSO (Career Technical Student Organization) for students pursuing careers in business management, finance, office administration, information technology, health administration and other related career fields.                           

Lavina BPA is a busy group!

      Here is a quick summary of some of the events we participate in during the year:

• Fundraising (year round)
• Community service projects (year round)
• Fall Leadership Conference at Fairmont Hot Springs (Oct. 2026)
• Veterans Day Pancake Dinner (TBD, Annually)
• Regional Conference at MSUB (TBD, Annually)
• State Conference at MSUB (Mar. 8-10, 2026)
• National Conference Nashville, TN (May 6-10, 2026)

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     Business Professionals of America is a co-curricular activity that encourages and celebrates student participation in professional, civic, service and social endeavors. BPA members are constantly striving for self-improvement, and development of leadership/career abilities. Our members learn real world business skills and demonstrate these skills in more than 90 competitive events during our regional, state and national conferences. The overall mission of BPA is to “contribute to the preparation of global professionals through the advancement of leadership, citizenship, academic, and technical skills." For more information, contact: Raquel Sanguins, Advisor.  Email

Do you want to know more about BPA? Go to the BPA Website.