Five Perham students qualify for national BPA competition in Nashville

Five Perham High School students turned a spring competition in Minneapolis into a trip to Nashville, earning their place at the national Business Professionals of America stage. The qualification gives Perham another visible win in a program that has steadily expanded across the past three years.

Perham High School sent 29 students to the Minnesota Business Professionals of America State Leadership Conference, held March 5-7 at the Minneapolis Hyatt Regency. More than 1,200 BPA members competed there across nearly 70 events in finance, business administration, management information systems, digital communication and design, and marketing and communication. In that crowded field, five Perham students advanced far enough to qualify for the national competition.

That level of reach is notable for a school the size of Perham. In 2024, Perham sent 21 students to the same state conference, where more than 1,100 members competed. In 2023, the school sent 11 students, with 867 members in the field. The numbers show a program that is not simply producing one-time results, but building experience and depth year after year.

The national trip will send the students to the BPA National Leadership Conference in Nashville, scheduled for May 6-10, 2026. BPA’s preview materials identify the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center as a host venue, underscoring the scale of the event and the professional setting these students will enter. Minnesota BPA’s budget planning guide estimates attendance at about $1,555 per attendee, a reminder that the opportunity carries both financial and logistical weight for families and the school.

The program’s structure also helps explain why Perham keeps showing up in these conversations. Minnesota BPA says volunteer judges from the business community help evaluate the spring leadership conference, tying the student competition to real workplace expectations in speaking, analysis, communication and decision-making. For Perham-Dent Public Schools, that makes BPA more than an extracurricular line on a transcript. It is a pipeline from classroom preparation to public performance.

For Otter Tail County, the five qualifiers represent a familiar kind of hometown milestone: students from Perham stepping beyond local halls and into a national arena, carrying with them the evidence of a business program that has grown stronger, broader and more competitive with each passing year.