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Teenager excels at publishing
The Liberty High senior hopes to win a national competition this year.
LIBERTY — For Max Kalik, a Liberty High School senior attending the Trumbull County Career and Technical Center, desktop publishing is not an acquired skill but more of an art.
Kalik has placed high in the Business Professionals of America desktop publishing competition and has been invited to compete nationally for two consecutive years. In the competition students from across the state, and ultimately from around the country, are given a list of information and 90 minutes to create a campaign that could attract the attention of millions of viewers.
Business Professionals of America is the leading Career Technical Student Organization for students pursuing careers in business management, office administration, information technology and other related career fields. The organization has more than 51,000 members in more than 2,300 chapters in 23 states.
The competitive Programs prepare students to assess real-world business skills and problem solving abilities in finance, management, information technology and computer applications.
John Bagnola, Kalik’s interactive multimedia teacher, said making it to the national competition is no small feat. Kalik, he said, is the first student here to do it twice in the desktop publishing category.
Bagnola said 400 students from around the state enter regional competitions. Those contestants are narrowed down to 100 who compete at the state level.
Kalik has finished second in state competition for the last two years, qualifying him for national competition both years.
“When you are at the state level you have to be in the top three in order to go onto the nationals. They only take the top three,” said Bagnola. “Very seldom does a student win as a junior and go onto nationals, then come back and compete as a senior in the same category and again go to nationals.”
Kalik finished in 12th place in the national competition last year, but he plans to change that in the upcoming competition.
“Last year I tried my best, but time was running out, so I started rushing,” he said. “This year I know what to expect, and I am ready to do it.”
The national competition this year will be May 7 - 11 in Reno, Nev.
Kalik, a quiet 17-year-old who strokes his chin and smiles while talking about his achievements but refuses to boast, takes the competition in stride. He said there is no formula to winning the competition. Desktop publishing is something that has come to him naturally.
“It’s just one of those things. I guess it’s just one of those things where I was just good at it,” he said.
Kalik plans to attend Youngstown State University in the fall. He plans to major in computer science and “do something in animation.”
Bagnola and other TCCTC teachers have had a number of students recognized in the competition. The school has had at least one student every year compete in one of the 50 categories at the national level.