MARSHALL — Marshall High School Business Professionals of America (BPA) students who recently returned from and educational and memorable trip to the National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Senior Joe Blanchard placed third in Financial Math and Analysis at the national competition.

“I was pretty pumped about that, actually,” Blanchard said. “It felt pretty good. I’m still trying to comprehend it all.”

Blanchard also took eighth place in JAVA Programming and ninth in C++ Programming.

“It was a lot of fun, especially because all my competitions were on one day,” he said. “It was extremely hectic that day — I had my suit on from 8 a.m. to midnight — but then I could relax on the other days.”

In the Financial Math and Analysis competition, Blanchard said the task was mainly to complete a multiple choice test on the concepts of Financial Math and Analysis.

“It was a timed test,” he said.

Ironically, this year marked the first that Blanchard competed in BPA.

“The first time I ever competed, it was on a whim,” Blanchard said. “I’d taken Financial Management for Small Businesses at SMSU (Southwest Minnesota State University) because I’m planning on starting my own business someday, so I thought maybe those skills would transfer over. And they did do that pretty well.”

While Blanchard was pleased with his accomplishments, he said he wishes he would have been in BPA more than just his senior year.

“It was incredibly fun,” Blanchard said. “I can’t believe I waited till this year. But with all the opportunities it provided for me, I’m glad I got to experience it this year.”

Blanchard plans to attend the University of Minnesota Twin Cities for computer science.

BPA adviser Brenda Kellen pointed out that the top nine students placing at nationals were called to the stage to receive awards, with the top three receiving plaques.

“I was very proud of this group,” Kellen said. “They represented the school and community with respect and professionalism during the entire trip. It is very difficult to make it to nationals and even more of a challenge to make the stage, so to have 3 out of 10 students make the stage was phenomenal. Minnesota in general, had a good showing with many Minnesota students called to the stage and placing in the top three.”

Kyle Murphy, Daniel VanKeulen and Jett Skrien earned an eighth-place finish at nationals. Skrien wasn’t able to attend the competition, but he helped to develop the project, Kellen said.

Lyth Shahin, Power Yang, Theresa Hanson and Jamila Vue also received the prestigious Ambassador Torch Award at the Honors Award Ceremony.

“It’s a really cool award,” Shahin said. “We got a super cool medal. The Torch Award is basically built on several different torches, which are categories where you can get points in for doing activities — not only related to BPA, but also related to service in your communities,” Shahin said. “There’s categories like patriotism — you can get points for attending a school board meeting, which is pretty awesome.”

Shahin said the Torch Award could be earned at various levels.

“The torch award, you can receive it locally, regionally, state and the national level,” he said. “And only five people received it at the region, state and national, which is really cool. It’s been awhile since we’ve had more than two people do that. Last year, we only had one person receive it at the state level.”

Overall, Shahin said the experience was a really good one.

“BPA had a pretty good trip,” Shahin said. “It was a lot of fun going to Orlando. It was a really cool experience.”

Blanchard said there wasn’t enough time to go to the beach, but that his favorite place to visit was Universal Studios and Universal Studios Islands of Adventure.

“I just love Harry Potter, so I just geeked out there,” Blanchard said. There were two roller coasters — one where you put on 3-D glasses and you could feel the heat at your feet and get splashed with water. It was really cool.”

Since the MHS students were competing at different times, they weren’t able to sightsee as a whole group, but they made the best of their free time.

“We usually went out in smaller groups — usually two smaller groups,” Blanchard said. “People had competitions at different times, so we couldn’t go as a full group. We had an express pass, so we could go to both (Universal) parks on the same day. That was a lot of fun.”

Along with the national competition, students also took part in electing officers.

“Many of the Marshall students also participated in the electing of the 2017-19 national officers, so the kids were busy,” Kellen said.