This page outlines the events happening this year, when they are, and what to expect. As the year progresses events may be added or removed or the dates may change. Continue to check this website and our Instagram to receive updates as they are posted.

Events 2024 – 2025:

Open House: 8/27/24

The BPA officers hosted a table for the club at the open house to showcase BPA to upcoming freshman with the aim of recruiting new members.

Interest Meetings: 9/11/24 & 9/18/24

Individuals interested in joining BPA should attend one or both of these meetings. Information about the club and its purpose will be provided, along with details about competitive events, our officer team, torch awards, fundraising, club activities, state and national leadership conferences, and more.

Adopt-A-Highway: 9/28/24

The Indian River High School BPA Chapter adopted the stretch of highway passing our school a few years ago. Since then, we have made it our mission to meet a few times a year and help to ensure that our highway stays clean.

Cops & Goblins: 10/26/24

The Indian River BPA has had a table at Cops & Goblins for a few years now. Members dress up in Halloween costumes to pass out candy and share information about the organization. This helps bring awareness to our chapter, provides support for the community, and is an enjoyable experience for members who attend.

Hurricane Helene Relief Effort Donations And Truck Loading: 10/3 – 10/18

Members partnered with various other student organizations at our school to donate and collect supplies, which they then loaded into a Uhual to be delivered to survivors of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina.

Fall Leadership Conference: 10/30 & 10/31

The fall leadership conference allows officers to have training sessions and meetings to become better leaders and help their chapter succeed.

Officers In Attendance: President – Ashly Benavides, Vice President – Zerkyah Yarbrough, Treasurer – Wilson Mendoza, and Reporter – Harper Stanley.

Clothing & Food Drive: 12/2/24 – 12/13/24.

One main goal of BPA is to shape members into strong leaders. A great way to achieve this is our food and clothing drive. Members are not only actively gaining experience and leadership skills by helping to run the drive, but they are also bettering the community and assisting those in need. To make sure we help as many people as possible, we get the entire school involved by placing donation boxes into homerooms. We reward the homeroom with the most donations with a donut party.

Middle School Move Up Days: 12/13/24 & 12/16/24

Members of BPA volunteered to run the marketing & finance tables to tell students about the pathways, as well as advertise for the club.

Dress Reherssal: 1/30/25

Holding a Dress Reherssal is extremely helpful as it allows members participating in speaking and presentation events to practice their event in an environment similar to the real competition in full professional dress with a pannel of mock judges.

BPA Week: 2/9/25 – 2/15/25

BPA Week celebrates all things BPA. Each day has its own theme.

February 9th: Success Sunday

February 10th: Motivation Monday

February 11th: Teamwork Tuesday

February 12th: Wear It Wednesday

Febuary 13th: Throwback Thursday

Febuary 14th: Future Friday

Febuary 15th: Service Saturday

Delaware State Leadership Conference: 2/25/25

The Delaware State Leadership Conference allows students to compete in various events to potentially earn a spot at the National Leadership Conference in May, which is in Orlando this year. Test events took place on January 15th and Open Events were available from January 22nd-24th. Live events took place at the conference. Along with competitive events the conference hosted voting for state officers, college/job fairs, and public speakers.

We had 14 students compete with 9 of them placing and 1 of them getting bumped up to compete at NLC. We also had 4 students place in multiple events.

1st Place: Cathrine Bunting (Legal Office Procedures), Wilson Mendoza (Economic Research), and John Planchart (Device Troubleshooting & Configuration)

2nd Place: Luke Auckland (Computer Security), Ashly Benavides (Banking & Finance), Dasahni Coleman (Health Research Presentation), Kaitlyn Kopf (Extemporaneous Speaking), Harper Stanley (Meeting & Event Planning Concepts), and Zerkyah Yarbrough (Advanced Interview Skills)

3rd Place: Luke Auckland (Advanced Spreadsheet Applications), Ashly Benavides (Economic Research), and Harper Stanley (Legal Office Procedures)

4th Place: John Planchart (Computer Security)

Honorable Mentions: Kassidy Behonar (7th Place in Prepared Presentation), Harlan Borino (6th Place in HR Management & 16th Place in Business Law & Ethics), Karhime Castillo Delacruz (6th Place in Fundamental Word Processing), Emily Davis (6th Place in Personal Financial Management, Bump Up to NLC), Kaitlyn Kopf (7th Place in Advanced Interview Skills), Collin Prenderville (7th Place in Extemporaneous Speaking), Harper Stanley (6th Place in Business Law & Ethics, Bump Up to NLC), and Zerkyah Yarbrough (7th Place in Prepared Speaking)

The conference was originally supposed to be held from 2/5-2/6, with the High School Level competing on 2/6. However, the High School Competition was postponed to 2/25 due to bad weather.

National Leadership Conference in Orlando: 5/7/25 – 5/11/25

Attending the National Leadership Conference is a great achievement. Members who attend will compete in their event(s) nationally and go to various ceremonies and demonstrations in the conference hotel. Members will also get a chance to explore the city the conference is located in as we partake in various group activities, creating an experience of a lifetime. This year the conference is from May 7th through May 11th in Orlando, Florida.

End of the Year Celebration: 5/31/25

Our chapter closes off each year with a celebration. Members are recognized for their achievements, officers are sworn in and superlatives are handed out. Members are also able to enjoy food, drinks, and desserts as well as mingle with their fellow members and reflect on their BPA experience over the past school year.

Events 2023 – 2024:

Interest Meetings: 9/13/23 & 9/20/23

These meetings were successful and welcomed both new and returning students to our school’s BPA chapter. We have a complete roster of 34 members.

Cops & Goblins: 10/28/23

Members dressed up in Halloween costumes to pass out candy and share information about the organization. This helped bring awareness to our chapter, provided support for the community, and was an enjoyable experience for members who attended.

Fall Leadership Conference:

The fall leadership conference allows officers to have training sessions and meetings to become better leaders and help their chapter succeed.

Clothing & Food Drive: 12/1/23 – 12/16/23:

The BPA clothing and food drive had a lot of success this year and we were able to help many struggling members of our community.

Delaware State Leadership Conference: 2/21/24

Numerous members from our school chapter competed in both presentation and test events at the state conference in hopes of receiving the chance to compete at the National Leadership Conference. Besides competing, members had a lot of fun exploring the conference center and the various activities there.

Delaware State Awards Ceremony: 3/1/24

Members who placed in their events and qualified for the National Leadership Conference were recognized and accepted their awards on stage.

Members who successfully placed in their events and were invited to the National Leadership Conference in Chicago:

Members pictured on the first slide (in order of left-right):

Kaitlyn Kopf – 3rd Place: Prepared Speaking and 3rd Place: HR Management

Zerkyah Yarbrough – 3rd Place: Advanced Interview Skills

Harper Stanley – 5th Place: Legal Office Procedures

Luke Aukland – 3rd Place: Computer Security and 5th Place: Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications

Members Not Pictured:

Cathrine Bunting – 4th Place: Legal Office Procedures

Madeline Fox – 2nd Place: Health Research Presentation

Ashly Benavides, Torrence Brickman, Summer Brickman, and Wilson Mendoza – 3rd Place: Economic Research Team

Adopt-A-Highway: 4/13/24

Having adopted the stretch of highway along our school and seeing the trash on it, our BPA chapter decided to spend a morning helping to clean up trash. We were able to fill over 10 trash bags full of waste.

Officer Election: 4/12/24 – 4/14/24

Members were able to vote for their 2024 – 2025 officer team reviewing candidate speeches, videos, and letters of intent.

The elected officer team is:

President: Ashly Benavides

Vice President: Zerkyah Yarbrough

Secretary: Kaitlyn Kopf

Historian / Marketing & Social Media Manager: Harper Stanley

Treasurer: Wilson Mendoza

Parliamentarian: Torrence Brickman

National Leadership Conference: 5/10/24 – 5/14/24

Members were able to compete in their event(s) at the national level and attend various assemblies and workshops. Members were also able to explore Chicago and participate in various activities during their free time. Kaitlyn Kopf finished in 5th place nationally for Prepared Speaking. Our Economic Research Team (Ashly Benavides, Torrence Brickman, Summer Brickman & Wilson Mendoza) finished in 7th place nationally.

Attendees (first picture, back row, left to right):

Ashly Benavides: Economic Research Team National Finalist, Secretary, President-Elect (11th Grade)

Torrence Brickman: Economic Research Team National Finalist, Historian, Parliemtarain-Elect (11th Grade)

Summer Brickman: Economic Research Team National Finalist (10th Grade)

Harper Stanley: Competed in Legal Office Procedures, Historian-Elect (9th Grade)

Luke Aukland: Competed in Computer Security & Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications (9th Grade)

Attendees (first picture, front row, left to right):

Olivia Turrsline: Competed in Advanced Interview Skills (11th Grade)

Maggie Bare: Competed in Ethics & Professionalism (9th Grade)

Wilson Mendoza: Economic Research Team National Finalist, Treasurer, Treasurer-Elect (11th Grade)

Kaitlyn Kopf: Prepared Speaking National Finalist, Secretary-Elect (9th Grade)

Hailey Mack: Torch Ambassador, President (12th Grade)

Madeline Fox: Competed in Health Research Presentation (11th Grade)

Zerkyah Yarbrough: Competed in Advanced Interview Skills, Vice President-Elect (11th Grade)

Bake Sale: 5/18/24

Members volunteered to bake for and run a bake sale at Hocker’s Supercenter to raise funds for club finances.

End of the Year Celebration: 5/24/24

Members celebrated the end of our BPA year with pizza, ice cream, awards, officer induction, and superlatives. This was a fun experience and a great way to close off the year and say farewell to our graduating members.

View the photo slideshow displayed at the celebration here: BPA 23/24 Photo Slideshow

Events 2022 – 2023

Interest Meeting: 9/22/22

The meeting had a great turnout as we welcomed new and returning members.

Cops & Goblins: 10/24/22

Members dressed up in Halloween costumes to pass out candy and share information about the organization. This helped bring awareness to our chapter, provided support for the community, and was an enjoyable experience for members who attended.

Fall Leadership Conference: 11/2/22 & 11/3/22

The fall leadership conference allows officers to have training sessions and meetings to become better leaders and help their chapter succeed.

Clothing & Food Drive: 12/9/22 – 12/16/22

The BPA clothing and food drive had a lot of success this year and we were able to help many struggling members of our community.

Delaware State Leadership Conference: 2/22/23

Numerous members from our school chapter competed in both presentation and test events at the state conference in hopes of receiving the chance to compete at the National Leadership Conference. Besides competing, members had a lot of fun exploring the conference center and the various activities there.

Delaware State Awards Ceremony: 3/11/23

Members who placed in their events and qualified for the National Leadership Conference were recognized and accepted their awards on stage. Dr. Bunting was selected as advisor of the year.

Members who successfully placed in their events and were invited to the National Leadership Conference in Anaheim:

Jordy Estrada – 1st Place: Project Management Concepts, 1st Place: Business Law & Ethics, 1st Place: Economic Research Team, 5th Place: Administrative Support Concepts, and 5th Place: Digital Communication & Design

Vicky Chan – 1st Place: Payroll Accounting, 1st Place: Advanced Word Processing, 2nd Place: Financial Math & Analysis, 4th Place: Digital Marketing Concepts, and 5th Place: Buisness Meeting Manegment

Alex Quinn – 1st Place: Economic Research Team, 4th Place: Banking and Finance

Jack Jestice – 1st Place: Economic Research Team, 5th Place: Buisness Law & Ethics

Kris Meister – 1st Place: Economic Research Team

Nikki Fulmer – 1st Place: Human Resource Management

Ashly Benavides – 2nd Place: Economic Research Individual

Hannah Rock – 2nd Place: Computer Security

Zerkyah Yarbrough – 2nd Place: Interview Skills

Olivia Turssline – 3rd Place: Advanced Interview Skills

Samantha Teoli – 3rd Place: Payroll Accounting

National Leadership Conference: 4/26/23 – 4/30/23

Members were able to compete in their event(s) at the national level and attend various assemblies and workshops. Outside of competing, members were able to explore various spots in Anehiem and even spent a day at Disneyland.

End of the Year Celebration: 5/16/23

Members celebrated the end of our BPA year with pizza, ice cream, awards, officer induction, and superlatives. This was a fun experience and a great way to close off the year and say farewell to our graduating members.

Our Newley Inducted Officer Team Is:

President: Hailey Mack

Vice President: Hannah Rock

Secretary: Ashly Benavides

Historian: Torrence Brickman

Treasurer: Wilson Mendoza