One of the great things about the career programs at Eastern Iowa Community Colleges is that, in addition to hands-on training, so many of them include activities outside the classroom.
The culinary, agriculture and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) programs all recently attended conferences and/or received awards at competitions. That’s just to name a few. It doesn’t even begin to include our honors programs and others who are on the road at least once or twice a year.
One of those is the Business Professionals of America (BPA) Chapter at Muscatine Community College. The group just came home from the Iowa State Leadership Conference in Des Moines where they had the opportunity to attend a number of great workshops and activities.
Best of all, four students came home with a little extra hardware in their suitcases, winning honors in a number of the conference’s various competitions.
BPA is a nationwide organization devoted to students majoring in business, office and other related fields. It is devoted to preparing students through leadership, citizenship, academic and technical skills. The organizations conducts a number of contests during its annual conferences to further promote those skills.
The four MCC students receiving recognition were Amanda Hurlburt of Washington, Griffin Lenth of Welton, Juan Lugo of West Liberty, and Ana Munoz-Torres of Muscatine.
Hurlburt captured first place honors in both Information Technology (IT) Concepts and paired with Lenth for first place for Website Design Team. She also placed second in Fundamental Desktop Publishing, third in Project Management and fifth in Computer Network Technology. She is majoring in IT Security and Forensics Information at MCC and expects to graduate in 2019.
In addition to his first place award with Hurlburt, Lenth finished first in Advanced Interview Skills and received an honorable mention in Computer Network Technology. He is also majoring in IT Security and Forensics, and will graduate this year.
Lugo received four awards including third place for both PC Servicing & Troubleshooting, and Systems Administration Using Cisco, as well as fourth place for Computer Network Technology and fifth for IT Concepts. He is majoring in IT Networking and will graduate this year.
Munoz-Torres received a third place honor in the Fundamental Word Processing category. She is majoring in Administrative Office Support and will also graduate this year.
MCC has had a very active BPA club for many years, annually attending both state and national conferences. It was recognized for its commitment at this year’s state conference with an Outstanding Quality Chapter Award.
Next up for the chapter will be the National Leadership Conference to be held this May in Dallas, TX.
