Anoka and Blaine High Schools Earn Top Honors at BPA State Leadership Conference, Advance to National Competition

Blaine, MN

In a strong showing of academic excellence and career readiness, students from Anoka High School and Blaine High School captured top honors at the 2026 Minnesota Business Professionals of America (BPA) State Leadership Conference, earning multiple podium finishes and securing spots at the organization’s national competition later this spring.

The annual conference, one of the state’s premier career and technical education competitions, brings together thousands of high school students from across Minnesota to demonstrate their expertise in business, finance, information technology, marketing, and leadership. Through BPA’s Workplace Skills Assessment Program, students compete in rigorous events designed to mirror real-world professional challenges.

For the Anoka-Hennepin School District, Minnesota’s largest school district, the results underscored a long-standing tradition of excellence in business and technology education.

A Strong Performance on the State Stage

At the 2026 conference, held March 5 through March 7 in the Twin Cities area, students from Anoka and Blaine competed against peers from across the state in dozens of competitive events spanning key professional disciplines.

Among the areas where students from the two schools excelled were:

Finance and Accounting: Competitors demonstrated advanced technical proficiency in events such as automated accounting and financial analyst team competitions.

Business Administration: Students earned strong marks in applied business skills, including spreadsheet applications and legal office procedures.

Digital Communication and Design: Teams from both schools performed especially well in graphic design promotion and website design categories, highlighting the growing role of digital literacy in modern business education.

Management and Marketing: Competitors qualified for top placements through events such as human resource management and global marketing presentations.

In total, 43 students from the two schools qualified for the national competition, including 38 students from Blaine High School and five from Anoka High School. Those advancing will represent Minnesota at the BPA National Leadership Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, May 4–10, 2026, where more than 6,000 students from across the United States and Puerto Rico are expected to compete.

Students from Anoka High School advancing to nationals include:

• Matthew Braaten
• Hayley Christensen
• Jessica Moua
• Ngum Sama
• Avery Warzala

Blaine High School students qualified both individually and as teams across multiple categories, marking one of the chapter’s most successful years in recent memory.

State Championships and Leadership Honors

In addition to national qualification, 17 Blaine High School students earned first-place state championship titles across individual and team events.

Several students were also recognized with the BPA Statesman Torch Award, an honor that recognizes members who demonstrate exceptional leadership, service, and engagement within the organization.

Students receiving the distinction included:

Anoka High School:
Aubrey Schwartz
Megan Kringen

Blaine High School:
Kenya Cooper
Joana Gboeah
Nolawi Gibe
Tristan Harris
Hibatallah Kemer
Ayush Naik
Karma Phuntsok
Fahima Rashid
Sandara Sihavong
Alexander Strasser
Kelly Tran
Eliana Zerie

The conference also recognized Blaine High School business education teacher and BPA advisor Holly Boisjolie as the Minnesota Secondary BPA Advisor of the Year, an award presented by fellow advisors statewide to honor outstanding mentorship and leadership in developing student members.

The Road to the National Stage

Advancing to the national competition is no small feat. BPA rules require students to place among the top two to five competitors in each event at the state level, depending on the category.

Those who qualify move on to the National Leadership Conference, where they compete against top students from across the country while also participating in leadership workshops, certification opportunities, and networking sessions with business and industry professionals.

The event serves as both a competition and a professional development experience, helping students refine skills in presentation, teamwork, critical thinking, and problem solving.

Strength of Career and Technical Education

The success of the Anoka and Blaine BPA chapters reflects the broader strength of the Anoka-Hennepin School District’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, which are designed to bridge classroom learning with real-world professional skills.

Students often spend months preparing for BPA competitions outside of regular class hours, working closely with faculty advisors to refine presentations, build technical projects, and master complex business scenarios.

For many participants, BPA serves as an early gateway into careers in business management, accounting, marketing, information technology, and entrepreneurship.

As the qualifying students prepare to represent Minnesota in Nashville this May, their achievements stand as a testament not only to individual talent but also to the power of mentorship, preparation, and the expanding role of career-focused education in public schools.

For the Anoka-Hennepin district and the communities it serves, the results signal something larger than medals or rankings. They represent the emergence of the next generation of business leaders, innovators, and professionals already learning to compete and collaborate on a national stage.

MinneapoliMedia
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