26 West BPA members qualify for national conference
West High’s chapter also boasts two new members of Iowa’s BPA State Officer Board.
March 3, 2021
At the virtual awards ceremony held Feb. 28, it was announced that 26 members of West High’s Business Professionals of America chapter had placed in their events at the State Leadership Conference. These students will advance to the National Leadership Conference this spring.
To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, this year’s state conference was held virtually, with students competing via video conference with their judges. Also taking place virtually were state officer elections. After delivering speeches to voting delegates and answering questions during the caucus period, two West High students were elected to the state board. Alex Curtu ’22 was named secretary, and Payton DeVena ’22 is the 2021-22 secondary division vice-president. They will replace this year’s state officer board, of which West chapter members Schuyler Houston ’21 and Sophia Davis ’21 are currently members of.
“I am super excited to be elected to next year’s state officer team because I think we all have some great ideas that will make BPA the best it’s been yet,” Curtu said. “I am overall super happy to be working with passionate hard-workers.”
Despite the challenges faced by West’s chapter during this unconventional year, DeVena feels as though members brought their A-game and were able to use the unique format to their advantage.
“BPA was so different this year but that didn’t stop West BPA at all,” she said. “All of West BPA did so good and I’m so proud of everyone.”
The following teams and individuals placed at state and will advance to the national conference:
Teams:
Sophia Davis ’21, Payton DeVena ’22, Mary Woodwad ’21 – State Champions, Small Business Management Team
Silvia Tinelli ’21, Margaret Liu ’21, Kevin Lu ’21, Alex Curtu ’22 – State Champions, Presentation Management Team
Jane Lam ’24, Finley Bevelacqua ’23, Ava Graf ’23 – Second Place, Presentation Management Team
Sara Baroncini ’21, Izzy Paulsen ’21, Abby McKeone ’21, Schuyler Houston ’21 – State Champions, Website Design Team
Ava Waddilove ’23, Karen Liu ’24, Ella Scott ’23, Mohana Sunkara ’23 – State Champions, Broadcast News Production Team
Individuals:
Alex Carlon ’21 – State Champion, Administrative Support Research Project
Mary Woodward ’21 – State Champion, Advanced Interview Skills
Schuyler Houston ’21 – Second Place, Advanced Interview Skills
Sophia Davis ’21 – Fourth Place, Business Management Concepts
Sara Baroncini ’21 – State Champion, Digital Media Production
Sophia Davis ’21 – State Champion, Entrepreneurship
Aashika Gadkari ’22 – Second Place, Entrepreneurship
Ava Graf ’23 – State Champion, Extemporaneous Speech
Eva Jordan ’23 – Third Place, Extemporaneous Speech
Izzy Paulsen ’21 – State Champion, Fundamentals of Web Design
Jada Dachtler ’21 – Second Place, Graphic Design Promotion
Eva Jordan ’23 – Third Place, Graphic Design Promotion
Alex Curtu ’22 – State Champion, Interview Skills
Nathan Stephens ’22 – Second Place, Health Insurance and Medical Billing
Ava Waddilove ’23 – State Champion, Health Leadership/Special Topics
Zach Buchholz ’23 – State Champion, Java Programming
Reagan Yamashita ’22 – Fourth Place, Legal Office Procedures
Sophia Davis ’21 – Third Place, Management, Marketing and HR Concepts
Sophia Davis ’21 – State Champion, Medical Terminology Concepts
Reagan Yamashita ’22 – State Champion, Prepared Speech
Alex Carlon ’21 – State Champion, Presentation Management Individual
John Woodward ’23 – Second Place, Presentation Management Individual
Ella Scott ’23 – Third Place, Presentation Management Individual
