Nearly 1,300 students from 93 Idaho high schools attended the Business Professionals of America’s 2016 State Leadership Conference at Boise State University on Friday.

Students competed in 60 individual and team categories ranging from banking and finance to website design and broadcast news production. The categories focus on real-life business applications.

“BPA makes students better prepared for the business world,” said Donna Gudmunson, the conference coordinator.

BPA is a career and technical student organization that aims to develop leadership, academic, and technological skills in the workplace. Natasha Williams, a senior at Centennial High School, has been part of BPA since sophomore year and landed a job at KIVI-TV through the organization.

“You find out a lot about yourself through the program,” Williams said. “I’m building my resume through BPA.”

The conference is a qualifying event in which students have the opportunity to advance to a national competition, which will be held in Boston on May 5-9. The winners will be announced on Saturday.