By Dee Grenert Editor
CULVER — Mike Schwartz rolled into the Culver Community High School parking lot, windows down, Frank Sinatra blaring.
A perfectly fitting prelude to Culver Community’s Business Professionals of America (BPA) nationals trip to New York City two weeks ago.
Schwartz, Culver’s BPA advisor, and wife Donna accompanied four national qualifiers —Molly Hartman, Justine Hoesel, Lyndsey Fisher and Ashley Jones — and incoming district president Kylie Gunder to the Big Apple from May 8 to 13.
From watching “Hairspray” and “Rent” on Broadway to frequent walks through Times Square to standing outside at “The Today Show” to an emotional trip to Ground Zero and, of course, the national competition at the New York City Hilton, all five girls and their sponsor raved about the big city adventure.

“The entire experience, really, was the most memorable,” Hartman, a senior, said. “It’s definitely a lot different than Culver. There were lots of cultures. I loved being in the city.”
Fisher, a junior and Indiana’s incoming vice president of administration, agreed.
“It’s so different in New York with the diversity,” she said. “I really liked being in Times Square. So many movies have been made there; so many famous people have walked through there. We didn’t get a lot of sleep, but we didn’t want to lose any minute of our New York trip.”
“We liked to look,” Gunder, also a junior, added. “We walked slow.”
While the students took in as many sites as possible, including a ride on the Staten Island Ferry and trips to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Chinatown, SoHo, Greenwich Village, the financial district and unique restaurants, they also saw to important matters of competition.
Hoesel, who now attends Knox but competed for Culver because her current school doesn’t offer BPA, led the Culver contingent with an impressive third-place mark in desktop publishing where she designed flyers and certificates.
Officials called the top 10 finishers on stage, in no particular order. A stunned Hoesel earned the final beckoning to the stage.
“When they called my name I was basically in shock and I was even more excited when they called my name for third,” Hoesel said. “I didn’t really expect to place as high as I did because of all the competition that I had. I felt intimidated.
“I enjoyed my time at New York,” she added. “It was fantastic.”
The other girls encountered some difficulty during their competitions, although Jones wound up 25th out of 77 participants in medical office procedures.
“Part of my test is abbreviations,” Jones said. “At district and state they give you the abbreviation and you have to give the word. That’s how I studied, but at the nationals they gave you the word and you had to tell the abbreviation. I got 25th out of 77, but I thought it was going to be worse.”
Fisher, who lost a notecard between her hotel and competition site, finished seventh in her group — one of three in graphic design — while Hartman checked in 40th out of 60 in advanced office systems & procedures.
“My very last job I forgot to save before I printed,” Hartman, who claimed the state title in March, said. “It was a two-page letter and I had to retype the whole thing.”
When not in competition, the Culver students made the most of their time.
The group, which left for New York at 6:15 a.m. on May 8, saw “Hairspray" that night.
That sparked a brief, and unforgettable, exchange the next morning at “The Today Show.”
“We had ‘Hairspray’ stuff and (weatherman) Al Roker walked by and asked, ‘How was the play?’” Jones said. “I looked at everyone and said, ‘We just talked to Al Roker!’”
The girls also held signs touting Culver BPA’s affection for New York, as well as thanks to Culver residents Grant and Ginny Munroe who, along with several other individuals and businesses, helped fund the trip.
“The anchors were right in front of us,” Schwartz said. “I started getting text messages from people saying they saw the Culver BPA signs on ‘The Today Show.’”
Even though the students stuck to the subways, their feet and an occasional cab, they received at least a glimpse of New York driving.
“One tour guide said, ‘As you can see, stop lights are purely for decoration,’” Fisher laughed.
Schwartz also made sure the group sampled a variety of novelty restaurants, but a deli near their hotel wound up closest to their hearts.
“We were only in New York six days, but it was our deli,” Jones said.
“The guy behind the counter was amazing,” Fisher quickly added. “He was taking about 10 orders at a time. He’d yell at you if you didn’t know what you wanted. He was impatient if you had to dig out your money.”
While most of the attractions elicited joyous responses, Ground Zero, understandably created a very different mood.
“It was more real to me than ever,” Gunder said. “You see all the names on the list of people who died. That could have been one of us or one of our teachers. It really hit home.”
“It was so weird to think the buildings used to be there,” Hartman said. “Being there was like being in a church; you didn’t talk. I’m so used to seeing it on TV and then to see it in person is pretty rough.”
Next year’s national competition is ticketed for Reno, Nev. A conflict from another corner is causing a change in Culver’s traditional prom weekend, a switch that won’t be made without factoring in BPA’s success.
“The junior class sponsor asked, ‘What’s your dates next year? As well as you guys have been doing, I want to stay off BPA dates,’” Schwartz said. “That says a lot.”