Canadian Valley Technology Center’s Interactive Media & Web Technology adult students Tom Bickford and Allen Chappell came home with top awards at this year’s Business Professionals of America (BPA) National Leadership Conference in Reno, Nev.

Bickford won second place with his Graphic Design Poster, while Chappell placed in the top ten in XHTML. The two students competed as a team in the Website Design category and received third place honors for their project.

Bickford, a second-year student and Chappell, a first-year student, are both enrolled in the Interactive Media program, and came to Canadian Valley as a result of area plant closings. Bickford was a 25-year employee of Delta Faucet in Chickasha, and Chappell had worked at the Dayton Tire plant in El Reno for 12 years.

“It’s been a great challenge, but also a lot of fun being in the Interactive Media program,” Bickford said. “It’s something totally different than what I have done in the past, but I really enjoy what I’ve learned. I’m excited about what my next career will be.”

The conference, which took place May 6-10, included over 6,000 BPA delegates from across the nation. Students participated in national-level business skills competitions, workshops, general sessions and the national officer candidate campaigns and elections.

Accompanying the students was BPA advisor and Interactive Media instructor Sheila McMurry.

“I’m really proud of these two guys,” McMurry said. “They’ve worked really hard over the past several months getting ready for this contest, and all their hard work paid off.”

Business Professionals of America is a national organization for high school, college and middle school students preparing for careers in business and information technology.