Twenty-three members of Frisco ISD Business Professionals of America chapters attended and competed at the BPA National Leadership Conference, held May 5-9 in in Boston, Massachusetts. These students competed among 5,600 BPA members from across the nation.
Business Professionals of America is the leading Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) for students pursuing careers in business management, office administration, information technology and other related career fields. BPA has 43,000 members in more than 2,300 chapters in 23 states. 
Frisco ISD students earned many top honors, including two national championships and multiple top ten finishes.
Michael Chen of Liberty High School, a member of the BPA chapter at the Career and Technical Education Center, won first place in Computer Security. Sai Vogirala and Mitul Gupta of Heritage High School won first place in Economic Research Team.
Several students were also industry certified in Microsoft and Adobe products.
Congratulations to the following students:
Career and Technical Education Center
1st Place
Michael Chen (Liberty) – Computer Security
2nd Place
Michael Chen, Harsh Ramesh and Nikhil Gupta (Liberty) – Network Design Team
5th Place
Shawn Kennedy (Centennial) – System Administration Using Cisco
10th Place
Nicholas Lovan (Liberty) – Network Administration Using Microsoft
Industry Certifications Earned
Luke McGuire (Wakeland), Nicholas Lovan (Liberty) – MTA Windows Operating System Fundamentals
Michael Chen (Liberty) – MTA Security Fundamentals
Harsh Ramesh, Michael Chen, Nikhil Gupta and Nicholas Lovan (Liberty), Luke McGuire (Wakeland) and Shawn Kennedy (Centennial) –MTA Networking Fundamentals Certification
Heritage High School
1st Place
Sai Vogirala and Mitul Gupta – Economic Research Team
2nd Place
Brandon Short – Extemporaneous Speech
4th Place
Keirth Sivarajah – Prepared Speech
7th Place
Mahim Nalluri, Pawansai Tumalla, Vikas Amara and DoYoun Jung – Global Marketing Team
Industry Certifications Earned
Mahim Nalluri, Pawansai Tumalla and Ms. Jerry Burks – Microsoft Office Specialist – PowerPoint 2013
Awards Earned
Seven Heritage BPA members earned the Ambassador Torch Award, which is the highest Torch Award in BPA. Members must perform a minimum of 490 hours of community service. Cody Chang, Keirth Sivarajah, Vikas Amara, Mahim Nalluri, Pawansai Tummala, Mitul Gupta and Sai Vogirala received their award while attending the national conference.
Independence High School
6th Place
Prithvi Karyampudi – Graphic Design Promotion
Industry Certifications Earned
Raviteja Addaguduru – MTA Networking Fundamentals Certification and MTA Security Fundamentals Certification
Frisco High School
Top Ten
Saran Sunararajan – Mobile Applications
Saran Sunararajan, Edward Hwang, Bryce Johnson and Alvin Lo – Software Engineering Team
Industry Certifications Earned
Erin Melican – Microsoft Office Specialist – PowerPoint 2013
Ron Adrian Antonio – MTA Software Development Fundamentals
Also competing at the National Leadership Conference were:
- Luke McGuire – PC Servicing & Troubleshooting (CTE/WHS)
- Saran Sundararajan – JAVA Programming (FHS)
- Ron Adrian Antonio – Visual Basic/C# Programming (FHS)
- Erin Melican – Integrated Office Applications (FHS)
- Luke McGuire – PC Servicing & Troubleshooting (CTE/WHS)
- Cody Chang – Banking & Finance (HHS)
- Prithvi Karyampudi & Neil Kulkarni – Small Business Management Team (IHS)
- Karthik Nair – C++ Programming (IHS)
- Aliaksei Novikau – SQL Database Fundamentals (LSHS)