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Beyond the Valley – Education: Local programs and competitions that go beyond the Mid-Ohio Valley

By Amber Phipps 4 min read

MARIETTA -- Along with the various programs and classes offered by the school districts in the Mid-Ohio Valley, many provide opportunities for students to go beyond the region through competitions or organizations.

The Washington County Career Center requires its students to be active participants in a student organization such as FFA, SkillsUSA or Business Professionals of America.

Chris Palmer, the graphic design and video production instructor at the career center, is a local advisor for BPA.

He said his students in graphic design all participate in BPA and pick a category they want to compete in, whether it's animation or podcasting or visual design.

"There's probably over 60 different events the students can pick from to participate in," said Palmer.

Palmer said they can't have more than five of their own students participate in one category so if more than five students select the same category, they do in-class competitions and whoever wins moves on to regionals.

"They're given a prompt ... and they're given 10 minutes to present and are graded on a technical rubric and also a presentational rubric," said Palmer.

Palmer said a popular event among his students is the graphic design promotion event.

The career center is in region five and he said each participating district takes turns hosting the events and awards. He said the career center hosted the BPA event three years ago.

"We hosted and we had a lot of staff members from the career center that stepped up and helped us and administrators stepped up to judge events," said Palmer. "Each school involved is also required to provide one judge."

He said a few days following the event awards are presented and the students find out who is moving on to the state competition.

Palmer said the students who were first place in their event move on to state. Some events include both first and second place to continue to the state conference.

The BPA State Leadership Conference takes place in Columbus at the end of February or beginning of March.

He said it's an all day event with awards presented the following day, and students who win continue to Nationals. The BPA National Leadership Conference will be held in Nashville this year.

"Last year, I had four kids qualify for nationals and we went to Disney World in Florida and it was a really great event," said Palmer.

Palmer said he's been all across the country with his students who qualified for BPA Nationals -- Boston, Los Angeles, Austin, and Chicago.

Career Center seniors in the graphic design program Hannah Greathouse and Sophia Parlin participated in the team promotion event at regionals Nov. 2024 and qualified for states. They went to Columbus March 2025 and placed fifth in their program.

"It was really exciting and I love being around people my age who are interested in the same things as me, and I love meeting other people," said Parlin.

She said everyone at states was really supportive especially when they made it to the top 10.

"I remember when we were standing in line we were all cheering each other on," she said.

Parlin said she was able to make some friends and was grateful for the experience.

"Mr. Palmer is an amazing instructor and I enjoyed being in his class," said Parlin. "I'd encourage anyone who's interested in media design to apply to his program."

Parlin qualified for states for promotion individual fall 2025 and will be going to the BPA State Leadership Conference Feb. 23-24.

Greathouse said her favorite part about BPA was the networking and meeting everyone at the state-level.

"I would recommend it to students and it's a wonderful opportunity," said Greathouse.

She said for her senior year she's competing in individual accounting.

Palmer said he gears many of his projects in class toward preparing the students for their competitions. He said the students work on their public speaking and presentation skills.

"There is definitely an event for everyone," he said.

Across the river, Wood County Schools holds an annual science fair from third grade to seniors in high school, split into three divisions.

Winners of the science fair have an opportunity to advance to regional and state science fairs.

The judges for the science fair include central office employees, Wood County School teachers, students from Wood County Technical Center and WVU Parkersburg professors.

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com

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