MIO — Four Mio AuSable High School students will be headed to Grand Rapids to compete in a competition called Business Professionals of America, with a shot at going to the National competition in California.

This organization helps the students pursuing careers in Business Management, Office Administration, Information Technology, Design, Public Relations and Management.

“In order for these kids to be able to go to the State Finals in Grand Rapids, they had to win at the competition at Central Michigan University or earn enough points in the Torch Program to go downstate,” said Pam Blamer, the advisor for this chapter. “The students competing, who won at CMU are Deserae Kaufman, Shari Stadelmayer, Kelli Kerschenheiter and Kelsie Blamer. The students competing as part of the Torch Program are Ben Galbraith, Aidan Lloyd, Jessica Felts, Aaron Winslow and Kyle Lefler.”

The BPA State Finals will be March 18-21 in Grand Rapids. There will be 559 students competing from 25 schools across Michigan.

“Business Professional of America is an organization that helps these kids to be better prepared for heading out into the workforce or for those who are headed to college,” Blamer said. “It also teaches them the leadership skills that they will need to succeed in life. At this time there are eleven high school students in the program at Mio.”