SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. — When the Bay College/Lake Superior State University Escanaba Regional Center Business Professionals of America student club took top honors during a competition at the organization’s National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla., May 10-14, three team members — Stephen Lippold, Bailey Dalgord and Jerri DeMenter — had a direct Lake State connection. Each is gaining a bachelors degree through LSSU’s regional center at Bay College.

Dalgord, from Escanaba, finished first in the fundamentals spreadsheet applications category. DeMenter, from Rapid River, who just completed her degree this past spring, notched third-place honors in human resource management and finished in the top 10 for presentations in entrepreneurship, prepared speech, and management, marketing and human resources concepts. Lippold, from Gladstone, also garnered a top 10 recognition for an ethics and professionalism submission.

DeMenter graduated last month with dual majors in accounting and business administration-management. Dalgard and Lippold are juniors, respectively, in accounting and business administration-management. All three are marketing minors.

BPA is a national organization that focuses on the professional and leadership development of students at the middle, secondary, and post-secondary levels. Its core program is the Workplace Skills Assessment Program, which allows students to compete in collegiate events at the state and national level. Its annual NLC competition draws hundreds of college teams from throughout the U.S. All teams must place high in state competitions to gain an invitation to nationals.

Last month the Bay College/LSSU Regional Center student club took 10 wins in the top three of their respective events at the State Leadership Conference, hosted by Davenport University in Grand Rapids. In that competition it was DeMenter who took first in entrepreneurship; Lippold and Dalgord landed third-place awards for submissions in contemporary speech and fundamental spreadsheet applications. Those wins allowed the team to advance to the Orlando NLC.

When a group of students started the Bay College/LSSU Escanaba Regional BPA club in 2014, they had five students compete at the state level, two of which qualified to represent Michigan at the NLC in Anaheim, Calif. One student placed first and another placed fourth.

Students can earn Lake Superior State University baccalaureate degrees in nursing, business, accounting, criminal justice, general studies, and early childhood education without ever having to leave Bay’s Escanaba main campus or branch center in Iron Mountain.

Students can also start a computer, electrical or mechanical engineering degree at Bay and finish at LSSU’s main campus. Run a Web search on “LSSU Escanaba Regional” for details.