The Iowa Business Professionals of America State Conference has grown immensely since 2025, hosting around 660 members compared to last year’s 400. The West BPA chapter has grown with it and took 87 students to the conference over the weekend, the largest number in the club’s history.
The students competed in various business categories like finance, marketing, business administration and more to showcase their business skills. 62 members qualified in their events, punching their ticket for the 2026 BPA national conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
This conference also saw the election of Aaron Kang ’ 27 and Aydan Thomas ’27 as vice president and president, respectively, of the state leadership board. These members will work with four other BPA board members to plan, organize and lead the 2026 Fall Leadership Conference and the 2027 State Leadership Conference in the coming year.
The event marked West’s new business teacher Andy Brandt’s first state conference as an advisor. He worked alongside veteran business teacher and BPA advisor Diane Fickel to organize and assist West’s members in their competitive events.
“It’s been really enjoyable to see students’ reactions through the coaching aspect of it. One, to see these ridiculously good presentations and designs and ideas, but then also just to see the coachability of the members,” Brandt said.
West BPA continues to break records, as this is the largest qualifying group yet from one chapter for Iowa BPA.
Detailed results are posted below.
Administrative Support Research Project
Second place: Delores Hubbard ’27
Third place: Matab Yagoub ’27
Advanced Desktop Publishing
First place: Lily Tentinger ’27
Advanced Interview Skills
First place: Ira Dirar ’26
Third place: Aaron Kang ’27
Banking & Finance
Fifth place: Oliver Knight ’27
Basic Office Systems & Procedures
Fourth place: Sophia Singh ’27
Broadcast News Production Team
First place: Gwen Grifhorst ’29, Alia Miller ’29 and Alexandra Nathan ’29
Second place: Fortunate Mindja ’27, Fenan Boru ’27 and Renad Adelrahim ’27
Third place: Campbell Janis ’26, Mathew Tran ’27, Alexander Pierce ’26 and Connor Murphy ’28
Computer Modeling
Third place: Sawsan Adam ’26
Computer Security
First place: Kevin Wang ’29
Digital Media Production
Second place: Gwen Grifhorst
Economic Research Individual
Second place: Renad Abdelrahim
Third place: Omnia Ali ’26
Economic Research Team
Third place: Skylar Ajaz ’27, Faisal Hamzeh ’27, Waleed Haroun ’27 and Owen Hughes ’27
Ethics & Professionalism
First place: Faisal Hamzeh
Third place: Kathryn Croco ’27
Financial Analyst Team
First place: Aaron Kang, Dara Olaleye ’27, Praneel Rastogi ’26 and Jacob Weimar ’26
Fundamental Desktop Publishing
Third place: Lila Eastvold ’27
Global Marketing Team
First place: Delores Hubbard, Gabriella Ciliberto ’27, Sophia Singh and Nola Moore
Graphic Design Promotion
Second place: Carly Moreau ’29
Third place: Logan Zirker ’29
Health Research Presentation
First place: Dara Olaleye
Second place: Reel Matar ’27
Interview Skills
First place: Mia Ahn ’28
Podcast Production Team
Second place: Ghazal Ismael ’29, Ghawaly Ismael ’29, Afraa Guama ’29 and Aya Mahmoud ’29
Presentation Individual
First place: Wad Haroun ’29
Second place: Dylan Colleran ’27
Third place: Nirvan Kandel ’28
Presentation Team
First place: Wad Haroun, Carly Moreau and Ava Twait ’29
Second place: Olivia Mitros ’29, Logan Zirker and Aurora Dzuris ’29
Small Business Management Team
First place: Dylan Colleran, Maddox Smith ’26 and Aydan Thomas ’27
Second place: Dylan Ashby ’28, Nirvan Kandel, Neta Levin ’28 and Cooper Spark ’28
Structured Query Language Database Fundamentals
First place: Jacob Weimar ‘26
User Experience Design Team
First place: Iman Alnour ’26, Solomon Shaffer ’26 and Isun Shim ’27
Video Production Team
Second place: Elsie Eastvold ’29, Emery O’Brian ’29 and Georgie McNaughton ’29
Visual Design Team
Second place: Laela Ashby ’27, Kathryn Croco ‘27 and Lily Tentinger ’27
Website Design Team
Second place: Kristy Kakizawa ’27, Reel Matar, Taleen Rahhal ’27 and Lila Eastvold
The advisors and members plan to hit the ground running for the 2026 national conference in May. This year’s conference theme is “Amplify Your Impact.”
