By By JAMES COLLINS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- Seven Niles High School Students have qualified to represent their school at the Business Professionals of America Leadership conference at the state level in March.
The students all placed in different business related categories at the Regional Leadership Conference in Grand Rapids in early January.
Susan Miller, a business teacher at Niles High School, said the Business Professional of America is "a club that helps students to develop their business skills."
The national organization for high school and college business students has over 54,000 members nationwide. Their motto is: "today's students, tommorrow's business professionals."
The organization's goal is to prepare a world class workforce through the advancement of leadership, citizenship, academic and technological skills.
The winners from Niles at the high school level include: Geoffrey Antos, 1st place in Information Technology Concepts, 1st place in C++ Programmer and 3rd place in Administrative Support Concepts. Nathan Fink, 3rd place in Banking and Finance. Matt Molnar, 5th place in Entrepreneurship. Collin Aycock, 7th place in Extemporaneous Speaking. Jeremy Ockerman, 4th place in Visual Basic Programmer. Amy Anton, 6th place Advanced Accounting. And Brian Ketchum, Matt Molnar and Amy Anton, 3rd place in Financial Analysis Team.
The other Niles High School students who competed in Grand Rapids were Rachel Gibson, Claire Isabel, Jordan Hendricks, Amanda Junk, Ashley Jenks, Robert Schuelke, Matthew Smith, Claire Blanchard and Christina Vreden.
The seven students who qualified will represent Niles at the 2004 State Leadership Conference on March 4-7 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids.