BLOOMINGDALE — Multimedia and design students at Jefferson County Joint Vocational School excelled during the Ohio Business Professionals of America Region 5 competition on Dec. 7.

Instructor Cody LaRue said teams gathered at Mid-East Career and Technology Center Buffalo Campus in Senecaville, where two JVS groups took top honors in their categories and will advance to the state competition in March. The teams of seniors Torry Burks, Sydni Cunningham, Peyton Marsh and Annabelle Morgan earned first place for broadcast news production team and juniors Demarrihanna Harper, Jarryn Hill, Jason Nutter and Lance Thornton were first in the podcast production team contest.

The broadcast team had to submit a three-to-five-minute video featuring a news broadcast with local and national stories. Teammate Peyton Marsh said the group chose a mall expansion and the countrywide staffing shortage as their topics.

“We’ve done well over the past few years, but we’ve been getting better every year,” said LaRue, who hoped to one day head to nationals. “They’ve been working really hard this year and the seniors went to a conference in Cincinnati to get clarification on how to improve even more.”

“We are destined for greatness,” smiled Burks.

LaRue said Marsh, Burks and Cunningham placed within the Top 10 at last year’s regional contest while Morgan joined this year.

“This was my first time, so it’s exciting for me,” Morgan added. She also placed second in the graphic design promotion category, which LaRue said was an impressive feat.

Meanwhile, the podcast team submitted a five-minute segment featuring a Top 10 list for their category. This marks the third year for the podcast program at the JVS and LaRue said teams have headed to the regionals annually.

“Last year, both categories went to the states, so it’s doubly impressive because the juniors this year didn’t immediately learn the podcast. They learned it on their own time.”

Rounding out the honors were seniors Damien Blankenship, Landon Long and Drew Schroyer, who were fourth place for visual design team, and Morgan and junior Spencer Adams, who were respectively second- and third-place for graphic design promotion. Schroyer said his team designed a “Soul Racing” videogame and promotional items; the graphic design promotion focused on logos for a “Games’R’Us” videogame including stickers for water bottles, a phone case and a laptop computer skin.

“I’m really proud of everybody that competed,” LaRue said. “They put a ton of work and research into it and all of the credit lies with them. We make champions here at the JVS.”

The Ohio BPA’s state leadership conference will be held on March 9 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.