by Dylan Bradley/ne news editor

Several TCC students won top honors in the Business Professionals of America National Leadership Conference April 30-May 4 in Indianapolis.

TR student Maria Frias placed first in the nation in the presentation management category. Contestants were given the prompt of comparing the business culture of a different country to America’s business culture, and Frias picked Japan.

In her presentation, she compared the interactions between business people, gift-giving and social interactions.

“In order to give it a more rounded feel, I tried to make it as interactive as I could,” Frias said.

She made homemade ceramic models of Texas and gave them to the judges to represent the common practices of Japanese business culture.

“They knew right then and there, as I was giving them the gift, that I was from Texas,” she said.

Frias is transferring to the University of Texas at Arlington to pursue her civil engineering degree in the fall.

NW student Ismael Castaneda competed in the spreadsheet analysis category, which uses Excel to build a spreadsheet in an hour and 40 minutes.

To prepare, he met with his advisers once every two weeks and took practice competition exams.

“I’ve never done competition events before,” he said. “Personally. I’ve never done Excel before. I just wanted to try it out. Somehow, I made it to nationals.”

He said that even though he didn’t get the score that he wanted, he is proud of his team’s performance and now values Excel as an organizational tool.

Castaneda is returning to TCC in the fall to continue the pursuing his associate degree.

NW student Rania Aboellhasan ranked in the top 10 in the nation in the banking finance category after taking a multiple-choice test over terms and processes.

“The multiple choice really isn’t that hard as long you know the material,” she said. “There’s always a lot of trick questions in there.”

She said the most nerve-wracking part of the test was the workout problem — a word problem that requires critical thinking to determine the relevant components.

To prepare for the competition, Aboellhasan took practice tests every month.

One part of the competition Aboellhasan found frustrating was not knowing exactly where she placed in the top 10 in the nation.

“It’s kind of annoying,” she said. “They only tell the top three, and then they just let everyone else wonder, so I’m assuming I was No. 4.”

Aboellhasan will attend the University of Texas at Dallas in the fall to pursue a finance degree.

NW student Nathlie Cubillos ranked in the top 10 in the nation in the advanced college accounting category.

She took a 90-minute exam that she prepared for by reviewing class material and taking practice tests.

She said she worked through the test backward so she could use most of her time on the hardest questions and have time left over to double check her work.

She said she was most nervous about disappointing her advisers.

“I was told that our BPA chapter had never placed,” she said in an email. “I as well as another student proved them wrong.”

She will transfer to the University of Texas at Arlington in the fall to continue pursuing her business accounting degree.