Students from the ECC BPA chapter gather around their trophy following state competitions.

A group of Multimedia students celebrate their state championship at BPA StatesEastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools had a fantastic showing at the 2025 Business Professionals of America (BPA) State Conference. Forty students put forth performances that qualified them for the National Leadership Conference, including 10 state champions. 

Multimedia satellite program students composed two state championship and national qualifying teams in the Video Production and Podcast Production categories. Junior Promad Pokhrel (Pickerington North) from the Programming Software & Development program took top honors in the Fundamental Spreadsheets event, while Medical Office junior Mary Camara (Reynoldsburg) placed first in the Health Administration category. 

Adding to its list of successes, EFCTS featured three state runner-up teams, two individuals and one team third-place finishes, and 33 students to achieve a top-5 placement. A total of 40 students between 26 events have qualified for the BPA National Leadership Conference, which will be held in Orlando, Fla. from May 7-11. 

Two students make a circular shape by touching fingers.Four Programming & Software Design students competed in the Software Engineering team event and received a top-10 national ranking. The team of seniors Haben Ademariam (Reynoldsburg), Chris Bailey (Teays Valley), Basel Etissa (Reynoldsburg), and Luke Wall (Groveport Madison) will now advance to the national leadership conference to continue their run at a national title. With their placement, a team from the Programming & Software Development lab has finished inside the top 10 in their event in seven consecutive years.

Additional highlights from the stats competition include:

  • EFCTS students claimed half of the top 10 placements in the Advanced Spreadsheets category by taking third, fourth, and sixth place plus two additional top 10 finishes.

  • Thirteen (13) juniors and 27 seniors will be heading to Nationals in May.

  • More than 90 Eastland-Fairfield students originally qualified to compete at the BPA state conference.

Students who qualify for the BPA State Leadership Conference will compete on March 7-11 for the opportunity to advance to the BPA National Leadership Conference.

The following is a list of students who won their respective events and/or qualified for the BPA State Conference.

Video Production Team
Gabe Garcia (Jr., Pickerington North, Multimedia), Jack Spear (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia), Jacob Hoover (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia), Cai Watts (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia) - 1st place ^

Podcast Production Team
Malcolm Maccarthy (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia), Kamaryn Reedus (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia), Skyler Lowe (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia), Leah Duff (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia) - 1st place ^

User Experience (UX) Design Team
Caden Scarberry (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia), Lucas Schalmo (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia), Lincoln Purcell (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia), Aidan Montei (Sr., Pickerington North, Multimedia) - 2nd place ^

Fundamental Word Processing
Samantha Hamilton (Sr., Reynoldsburg, Medical Office) - 8th place ^
Brooklyn Moses  (Sr., Groveport Madison, Medical Office) - 9th place

Basic Office Systems & Procedures
Lesly Rangel Gutierrez (Jr., Whitehall-Yearling, Medical Office) - 5th place ^
Tania Duran Garcia (Jr., Reynoldsburg, Medical Office) - 6th place ^
Durati Liban (Sr., Hamilton Twp., Medical Office) - 8th place ^

Fundamental Spreadsheets
Promad Pokhrel (Jr., Pickerington North, Programming & Software Development) - 1st place ^
Jesse Parrilla (Jr., Pickerington North, Programming & Software Development) - Top 10

Advanced Spreadsheets
Owen Gilligan (Sr., Pickerington Central, Programming & Software Development) - 3rd place ^
Violet McGraw (Sr., Hamilton Twp., Programming & Software Development) - 4th place ^
Karim Basse (Sr., Canal Winchester, Programming & Software Development) - 6th place ^
Binan Magar (Sr., Reynoldsburg, Programming & Software Development) - Top 10
Tamara Gruevska (Sr., Gahanna Lincoln, Programming & Software Development) - Top 10

Java Programming
Haben Andemariam (Sr., Reynoldsburg, Programming & Software Development) - 8th place ^
Baslel Etissa (Sr., Reynoldsburg, Programming & Software Development) - Top 10

Digital Media Production
Jolie Kingrey (Sr., Groveport Madison, Interactive Media) - 3rd place ^

Website Design Team
Aidien Gooden (Sr., Whitehall-Yearling, Programming & Software Development), Jabari Hill (Sr., Gahanna Lincoln, Programming & Software Development), Sean Kalb (Sr., Hamilton Twp., Programming & Software Development), Gabriel Zeigler (Sr., Gahanna Lincoln, Programming & Software Development) - 2nd place ^

Small Business Management Team
Xavier Brandel (Jr., Pickerington North, Programming & Software Development), Melania Budzevska (Jr., Reynoldsburg, Programming & Software Development), Ashmin Siwakoti (Jr., Reynoldsburg, Programming & Software Development), Brenden Woodfork (Jr., Reynoldsburg, Programming & Software Development) - 2nd place ^

Health Administration
Mary Camara (Jr., Reynoldsburg, Medical Office) - 1st place ^
Alix Davis (Jr., Fairfield Union, Medical Office) - 7th place ^

Human Resources Management
Blessing Mensah Abrampah (Sr., Groveport Madison, Programming & Software Development) - Top 10

Administration Support Team
Brooke Sargent (Jr., Fairfield Union, Medical Office), Lauren Dickensheets (Jr., Groveport Madison, Programming & Software Design), Adrienne Woods (Jr., Groveport Madison, Medical Office) - 3rd place ^

Cory Barr (Jr., Teays Valley, Medical Office), Jaida Miller (Jr., Pickerington Central, Programming & Software Design), Lilah Mwansa (Jr., Canal Winchester, Medical Office), Binisha Adhikari (Jr., Pickerington Central, Programming & Software Design) - 4th place

Software Engineering Team
Haben Ademariam (Sr., Reynoldsburg, Programming & Software Development), Chris Bailey (Sr., Teays Valley, Programming & Software Development), Basel Etissa (Sr., Reynoldsburg, Programming & Software Development), and Luke Wall (Sr., Groveport Madison, Programming & Software Development) - Top 10

^ indicates that the student(s) has qualified for the BPA National Leadership Conference

Multimedia students gather around their championship trophy.

About BPA

Business Professionals of America (BPA) is the premier career and technical student organization for students pursuing careers in business management, information technology, finance, office administration, health administration, and other related career fields. With 45,000 members in over 1,800 chapters across 25 states and Puerto Rico, as well as an international presence in China, Haiti, and Peru, BPA is an organization that supports business and information technology educators by offering co-curricular exercises based on national standards.