Lisbon has added a Business Professionals of America chapter to their school.
Teacher Amanda Zenisek said she participated in BPA in her own high school and it helped her find a love of business.
“BPA gave me many skills that my regular classes didn’t cover such as networking, interviewing for jobs, and leadership skills,” Zenisek said.
She has previously served as an advisor for a BPA program at another school, and noted that students had the ability to compete at state leadership conferences and national level competitions as well.
“During these leadership conferences, many students experienced a lot of firsts — first time running a campaign to be a state officer, traveling out of state, tipping on their own, how to go through TSA without a parent, hearing from a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, meeting students from lots of different states, and many other new experiences,” Zenisek said. “I’m excited to offer this experience to students at Lisbon High School. BPA will complement many of the business classes offered at Lisbon such as career readiness, entrepreneurship, accounting I & II, information computing, on the job training, and Lisbon INC.”
Students at Lisbon took part in their first BPA conference Sunday, Nov. 14 and Monday, Nov. 15.
The main speaker at the conference was Adam Carroll, who Zenisek said spoke about setting yourself up for financial success.
“His main ideas were you are never too young to start saving and investing, apply for any scholarships possible if you are going to college and if you do for two years what most people won’t do, you’ll do for the rest of your life what most people can’t do,” Zenisek said.
Students also attended sessions on entrepreneurship and finding start-up capital, interview skills, self-care, building your personal brand, applying for college, how to market your company, and many other business topics. They also had a business etiquette dinner, where students practiced their dining skills.
BPA will meet as a club during WIN Time and before or after school as needed. All students are welcome to attend.
Zenisek said students in BPA will develop skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives and make connections with other young professionals throughout the state and nation. Students have the opportunity to grow their business skills as well as their soft skills.
Lisbon, INC has had a busy fall, tackling a number of new projects. They are getting their student run newspaper – Lisbon Ink – off the ground.
They have worked at painting Lisbon logos in driveways to raise funds for the school’s weight room and worked at getting a 3-D printing business started.
They have continued recording The Gooder Word, a student produced weekly comedy/news video. They’ve created cards for nursing homes and blankets for Lisbon’s Adopt-a-Families.
They are also learning some cooking and baking skills, even though Lisbon does not have a Family Consumer Science class or curriculum currently.