BY MATT MACKINDER
Clarkston News Staff Writer

It’s all business for eight Clarkston High School students.
Literally.
Back on March 15-17, Richard Budny, Nathan Dimmer, Cameron Hempton, Logan Malone, Thomas McCarty, David Moss, Laura Norrito, and Nathan Sesti competed in the Business Professionals of America 2019 State Leadership Competition in Grand Rapids.
Four students (Budny, Dimmer, Moss, Sesti) have also qualified for the National Leadership Conference that takes place May 1-5 in Anaheim, Calif.
“The state conference was a fantastic learning experience and opportunity to competitively realize my rarities,” said Sesti, a CHS junior.
Dimmer is a sophomore, Budny a junior and Moss a senior.
Business Professionals of America is the premier CTSO (Career and Technical Student Organization) for students pursuing careers in business management, information technology, finance, office administration and other related career fields. With 45,000 members in over 1,800 chapters across 25 states and Puerto Rico, BPA is a co-curricular organization that supports business and information technology educators by offering co-curricular exercises based on national standards.
Kevin Smith, a CHS Business/Career Tech teacher, serves as the Clarkston BPA chapter advisor.
“We have great programs and some very intelligent kids in our schools,” Smith said. “This competition gives them a chance to highlight their skills and compete against other individuals. We have students qualify for state and nationals every year. It is a fantastic learning experience for them.”
In Grand Rapids, the students earned several awards: Statesman Torch Award (Dimmer, Moss); Computer Networking Technologies (Dimmer, first place); PC Servicing and Troubleshooting (Dimmer, first place); C++ Programming (Budny, second place); SQL Database Fundamentals (Sesti, fifth place); Java Programming (Sesti, second place; Budny, third place); Information Technology Concepts (Dimmer, gold); Computer Programming Concepts (Budny, gold; Sesti, silver; Dimmer, bronze); Administrative Support Concepts (Dimmer, silver); and Financial Math and Analysis Concepts (Moss, gold).
Smith added that the Anaheim competition will be another challenge for the students. Dimmer will not be attending, said Smith.
“The kids will get to compete in not only the competitions they qualified in but other competitions where they can compete for national honors as well – business, math, computers, marketing, and entrepreneurship are all areas they can compete in,” said Smith. “There are awards sessions for special honors that a couple of students will receive and the main is the award ceremony where we usually have a couple of students receive awards. In the past, we have students that have done very well in computer and business events. The conference is not all business as I will take them on a tour around the city and surrounding area.”