UCF business students Cassidy Carpenter, Almyr Chery, Kyle Coggins and Sofia Heredia each earn $500 in scholarship funding
ORLANDO, FL (May 4, 2026) – UCF business students Cassidy Carpenter, Almyr Chery, Kyle Coggins and Sofia Heredia teamed up to win the 2026 Great Capstone Case Competition on Friday and take home $500 each in scholarship funding, thanks to presenting sponsor BNY. The Case competition is typically the final course before graduation where students in the College of Business present inventive proposals for modern, real-world business issues as part of their final coursework in the college.
The Capstone course enables students to collaborate and develop their analytical, communication and teamwork skills. Costco worked in partnership with BNY for this competition, providing the framework each group used for the proposals. Finals’ judges included BNY representatives Eric David, Reshanna Jagroo and Logan Parkes, Costco executive Santiago Camargo and the college’s Finance Executive in Residence Paul Gregg.
“This was one of the closest finals we’ve ever had in the Capstone competition,” said Christopher Leo, Senior Lecturer of the Strategic Management course, before presenting the awards to the winners. “You should all be proud of the work you did and use this as proof of concept as you begin your careers.”
The Starting Five Team of Chris Brassington, Jackson Harris, Sam Lessinger, Devon Maue and Coleman Smith finished second, earning $250 each. Team Chicken Bake (Mindy Ballard, Mimi Huynh, Shiva Rajendran and Riley Stephens) finished third and took home $150 each.
Leo presented the winning team’s lab instructor, Mahsa Mohsenibeigzadeh, with the Nichols Cup, named in honor of longtime Capstone instructor Gary Nichols ’87. The winning lab instructor keeps the trophy until the next competition.