BPA Students Earn Multiple Awards at National Leadership Conference

Students from the Dr. Gene Burton College and Career Academy earned top honors at the 2026 Business Professionals of America (BPA) National Conference this month in Nashville, Tennessee.

All 18 students who competed placed in the Top 10 in their categories, competing against some of the nation’s best students in business, technology, leadership and digital media.

The visual design team, comprised of students Arya Davis, Nico Patrick, and Aijha Lias, earned 1^st place and were named national champions.

The software engineering team, comprised of students Trilochana Sivakumar, Arjun Singh, Neja Ramkumar, and Nikhil Balaji, also earned 1^st place and were named national champions.

Additional national finalists included:

·      Network Design Team (Trilochana Sivakumar, Neha Ramkumar, and Arjun Singh) — 2nd Place

·      Software Engineering Team 2 (Rueben Camacho and Colton Fisher) — 2nd Place

·      Software Engineering Team (Jude Sprowls, Samuel Wattles, and Reagan Merz) — 4th Place

·      2D Animation Team (Nadia Flores, Brycen Tidwell, Kamila Ramirez, and Andres Olivo) — 6th Place

·      Small Business Management Team (Vincent Vento, Ethan Abraham, and Kelly Shin) — 7th Place

These students demonstrated incredible creativity, innovation, teamwork, professionalism, and dedication on the national stage.

Advisors Misty Rayson, Naposhi Amos, Jeff Burkam and Marcia Eddy said the students worked countless hours to reach this level of success, and they are so proud of their hard work paying off.