SIX FOREST PARK High School students who participate in Business Professionals of America have advanced to the BPA national competition May 7-11 in Orlando, Fla. From left are BPA advisor Debbie Smithson and students Gabe Quevedo, Skylar VanOss, Lily Sarder, Elsie Williams, Tomi Fabri and Liam Johnson. (Jim Paul/Daily News photo)

CRYSTAL FALLS — The Business Professionals of America students at Forest Park Schools have continued their success this year.

Under the leadership of business teacher Debbie Smithson, 17 Forest Park students made it to the state conference in Grand Rapids in March and six advanced to the national finals in May in Orlando, Fla.: Elsie Williams, Liam Johnson, Lily Sarder, Skylar VanOss, Tomi Fabri and Gabe Quevedo.

The BPA is a career and technical student organization that helps students develop leadership skills and prepare for careers in business, information technology and other related fields. BPA fosters the knowledge and confidence students will need to succeed in the business world along with citizenship and community engagement.

BPA has chapters in more than 1,500 schools with more than 50,000 members across the United States and other countries such as Canada, China and South Korea. BPA hosts competitive events where students can showcase their abilities in areas such as business management, information technology and finance.

Smithson has been BPA advisor for 20 of her 35 years at Forest Park Schools. She gives all the credit for their successes back to her students.

“These are great kids. We have got great, smart kids and we are lucky that they want to be a part of BPA,” Smithson said. “These kids have taken it upon themselves to want to know more and do more in the events they want to compete in and they like doing it; it just brings them an opportunity to showcase what they know.”

Smithson said she views the BPA as an extension of her classroom.

“Business is going to touch every aspect of their life somewhere down the road,” Smithson said. “If I can expose them to just a little bit more than what they already know, I feel that I have done my job.”

The students all agree that the opportunities to travel and meet new people are an added bonus to all of the life skills they are gaining by participating and competing in BPA.

Junior Elsie Williams said the BPA motivates her to venture out of her comfort zone.

“I was not the biggest fan of talking in front of people, but I thought I could do it and push myself to practice it and get comfortable with it,” Williams said.

Being part of BPA definitely looks good on the resumes they are already building from themselves, Smithson noted. Being from a small town like Crystal Falls can be a good thing as well, she said.

“I tell them that there is nothing wrong with being a big fish in a small pond,” Smithson said. “The more that they can involve themselves in is just going to open doors that students in other cities cannot fathom because their schools are so large.”

Along with adding to their skills in their category of choice, BPA teaches business etiquette and how to face challenges such as maintaining proper balance between study, life, athletics and interpersonal relationships.

The six students who advanced to the BPA national conference will be in Orlando from May 7-11 and they are looking forward to the trip. The students will compete in categories such as desktop publishing, computer networking and public speaking.

Sophomore Tomi Fabri said she is preparing for the competition by brushing up on her Photoshop skills.

“I am so very excited to travel to Orlando and see all the people from different states,” senior Skylar VanOss said.

Senior Liam Johnson studies computer networking and security at the Dickinson-Iron Intermediate School District Technical Education Center and is competing in the networking category. Johnson would like to study cyber security at Michigan Technological University and thinks BPA will help with that goal and career.

“It furthered my education and pushed me to study more and not stay with the bare minimum,” Johnson said.

Senior Gabe Quevedo was going to study graphic design; however, BPA pulled him in another direction.

“I am going to Michigan State University to study accounting. I want to be a business teacher,” Quevedo said.

Even though junior Lily Sarder is not planning on going into a business field — she is already working on becoming a pilot — she still believes BPA provided valuable skills.

“It helps with learning to be professional and how to act in the workforce, how to interact with other people,” Sarder said.

This will be Smithson’s last year at Forest Park, as she is retiring. Smithson will leave a huge void to fill, not just with BPA but also National Honor Society, yearbook committee and Youth Advisory Committee, or YAC.

In addition, Smithson is advisor for the junior and senior classes on activities such as prom and Homecoming.

All of the BPA students called Smithson their role model. Smithson said she will most miss her students once she retires.