Alumni Success Stories

As a Grand View grad, you play an important role in its continued success, and one way to spread the word about the good things happening at Grand View is by sharing your own success stories.

We hope to build a wonderful library of alumni profiles on this website, so if you are interested in being spotlighted or want to recommend someone, send us an email at alumni @ grandview.edu.

nullDevan Walker '14, science teacher at Southeast Valley High School in Gowrie, Iowa, has been named as a recipient of the 2021 Iowa STEM Teacher Award, sponsored by Kemin Industries. The award is given to teachers who go above and beyond to inspire student interest in and awareness of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. For seven years, Walker has taught a variety of STEM subjects to students at Southeast Valley High School—including chemistry, environmental science, biotechnology, anatomy and physiology, food science and physics. Yet, in every subject she teaches, Walker strives to make the subject matter accessible and engaging.

nullCongratulations to Grand View alumna Kelley Johnson on being crowned Miss California USA 2018! She will be now compete in the Miss USA 2018 pageant to be held next year. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Grand View. You likely recognize her as the former Miss Colorado 2015 and who later competed in Miss America 2016 where she finished as second runner-up.

Grand View alum, local artist, and founder of the art company Plum Forward, Ben Schuh was commissioned by the Des Moines neighborhood's centennial commission for the north wall of Uptempo Music to complete another mural on the side of a Beaverdale building. Read more about Ben here.

Accounting alumni ranked 10th in the nation among small programs on the 2015 Uniform CPA Examination. The report, released by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), indicated the passing rate of GV graduates, 75 percent, far exceeded the national average of 48.4 percent, as well as averages of graduates from colleges and universities throughout Iowa (54.6 percent). The performance also ranks GV alums third of all colleges and universities in Iowa.

Anai Perez ’17, biochemistry and biology major, is currently packing her car and moving to Seattle, Washington. Perez has accepted a position as a Research Associate at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Fred Hutchinson, or The Hutch as it is known, is one of the top three cancer research institutions in the United States.

Three months after graduation, all seven of our 2017 BSW graduates have found employment or been accepted into MSW programs.

Iyyad Rayyan won first place in Financial Analysis and Decision Making and Ashley Hamphill won first place in public speaking at the PBL National Leadership Conference in Chicago.

Recent grad, Andrew McGuire ’17, digital media production major, is now a photojournalist for KCCI-TV Des Moines.

Recent grads Brittany Bowman and Iyyad Rayyan were selected to present their research projects at Alpha Chi national research conference in Alexandria, Virginia. Top academically performing students from around the country had a unique opportunity to network with peers, present their research, and to listen to the research presentations of other undergraduate and graduate students during the three day conference.

2017 Nursing graduate, Megan Phifer was accepted to the Vanderbilt BHU Nurse Residency program.

2017 Nursing graduates Michaela Pearson and Brittany Harrelson are both working at Mayo Clinic.

2017 Nursing graduate Shelby Warren is attending graduate school at Georgetown.

Molly Kalkwarf and Heather Poula, 2017 accounting grads are both assistant auditors at the State of Iowa.

2017 biology grad Ashley Eaton is getting her master’s in prosthetics and orthotics at Northwestern University.

Erin Krei, 2017 criminal justice major, is pursuing her master’s in biodefense from George Mason University.