The Robert W. Plaster School of Business Administration will host its 29th business contest for high schools Wednesday, April 4.

“We began this contest because we wanted to get high school students engaged in Missouri Southern,” said Dr. Beverly Block, professor of business and organizer of the contest. “The students will have the opportunity to meet business faculty and learn more about the programs available in the school of business. Career services and admission staff will also be on hand to answer any questions they might have.”

Students are allowed to enter a maximum of two categories. Some categories the students can enter include accounting, business communication, business law, economics, free enterprise, general business, keyboarding, management, marketing and office procedures. All tests will be multiple choice with a few exceptions.

This year, the business contest has added three new categories to its list.

These categories are multimedia presentation, Web site development and international business. They are also the first to be strictly technology-driven.

“We live in a technology-driven society, and we wanted to mimic that by adding new categories,” Block said.

Registration is also online for the first time this year. Students planning to register must do so via e-mail by March 5.

Testing begins at 9 a.m. and will end at approximately 11 a.m.

Testing will be followed by lunch and an awards ceremony at 1 p.m. in Taylor Auditorium.

Students will compete for a $300 scholarship, and all students will be eligible to enter a drawing for an apple iPod.

“Everybody [in the school of business] helps. It takes all of us to put it together,” Block said. “We usually have 30-plus schools in the in the four-state area attend.”

Last year’s contest had 750 students attend from 31 different high schools in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

For information, visit http://www.mssu.edu/business/business_contest.html.