Two Southwestern Community College (SWCC) students qualified for the Business Professionals of America (BPA) National Leadership Conference after competing at the Iowa Spring Leadership Conference held February 19-20, 2017, in Des Moines. Shawna Abell, an administrative office technology major from Greenfield, and Jenna Shepherd, an associate of arts/college transfer student from Creston, will be making the trip to the national conference, from May 9-14, in Orlando, FL.
Students are required to place in the top three at state competition in order to qualify for nationals. Abell received the following awards during state competition: Administrative Support Concepts, third place; Basic Office Systems & Procedures, sixth place; and Administrative Support Team (with teammate Shepherd), fifth place. She will compete in Administrative Support Concepts at nationals. Shepherd placed in the following categories: Administrative Support Concepts, first place; Business Meeting Management Concepts, third place; Interview Skills, third place; and Administrative Support Team (with teammate Abell), fifth place. She will compete in Administrative Support Concepts and Business Meeting Management Concepts at nationals.