Sentinel has officially moved away from the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA). Since the majority of Montana schools have moved on from DECA as well, they all joined an organization called Business Professionals of America (BPA). At Sentinel, the BPA director Dylan Reynolds has stepped up to lead Sentinel students to another business professional victory. I sat down with Mr. Reynolds to ask him some questions about BPA and all of Sentinel’s amenities sponsoring the club.

Even though DECA and BPA are both business-affiliated clubs, they’re very different in many ways.  Mr. Reynolds said that “they are two separate clubs and BPA is more focused around business as a whole including accounting, finance, management, MIS, and marketing. DECA is specialized in marketing itself. BPA has become a much larger program and the majority of schools in Montana have switched to BPA now.” Not many people know about the club. From my understanding, not many people know about the club.  Even though there are only eight members, they still managed to get Sentinel’s business reputation back and a  trophy on the podium.

All eight members of the club are state bound.  According to Mr. Reynolds, the state BPA headquarters are in Billings, Montana. Sentinel’s Calla Thompson, Avery Stephens, and Hunter Wilson all placed first in their business category. Cosette Burrese also placed second overall in a category with over 25 participants. There are still some events that haven’t been determined yet. In regards to state, Mr. Reynolds stated, “We competed in a wide range of events at the regional level on Monday, January 10th, and all our members have made it to the state level in at least one event. We will compete at the state level in Billings in mid-March and hope to reach the national competition in Dallas in May.” As state competition is swiftly approaching, we are wishing all members of the club good luck and hope for qualification spots in the national competition.

There are two main school amenities that sponsor BPA. The coffee cart, which is run by volunteers, and the Sparta Mart, run by BPA members. With the profit sold from the concessions, they will accompany “the goals for Sparta Mart and the Coffee Cart to fund the trip to Billings and Dallas.” When stopping by Sparta Mart, there are new products to be purchased. Mr. Reynolds is implementing new changes and will soon give students an opportunity to voice their opinions on products to add next, “We love feedback and we plan to set up a QR code by Sparta Mart where students can fill out the survey and help answer questions about the current menu and what they would like to see moving forward.” New products are being released in Sparta Mart and the coffee cart is finally open. What a great start to 2022.

When any club or sport from Sentinel wins, all of Sentinel wins. BPA is a new addition to Sentinel’s various high-achieving clubs and they have already all qualified for state. To support BPA, stop by Sparta Mart or the Coffee Cart to help them get to Billings and hopefully Dallas, Texas nationals. Until then, wish them good luck at the state and national competitions.