Utica High School DECA members earned 2nd place in School Based Enterprise Retail at DECA’s annual International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Orlando, Florida. They competed against 280 other school based enterprises.
Students received recognition at the international level for the Chief Connection, the school store. Students honored are: Natalie Shtogrin, Alexis Findley, and Laina Tomei.
“"This was the most dedicated, motivated and hard-working team I have ever worked with," said marketing teacher Dana Boice, the store’s advisor.
During the school year, approximately 100,000 of DECA’s 224,000 high school student members take part in the organization’s competitive events program, allowing them to compete for local, regional and association titles.
The competitions are designed to simulate real-life business scenarios and test students’ academic understanding and skills development. The top association winners put their talents to the test during the program’s final round of competition in Orlando. The DECA International Career Development Conference was the pinnacle of competition where over 22,000 students vied for international honors.
UHS student are regularly honored as among the nation’s best, but the second place showing is the best in school history.
The three recognized Utica High School students said in a statement: "We couldn't have asked for a better team. We all wanted this more than anything and we were able to achieve it. DECA has really pushed us to get through our senior year and over the last 3 years. It has been a big part of our life. We were so happy to be able to achieve this not only for ourselves but for our program!"
This year’s #DECAICDC featured over 22,000 members and advisors in attendance. In addition to career-based competition, DECA members engaged in leadership academies and networking opportunities with over 80 internationally-recognized businesses and universities.
About DECA Inc.
DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs who are interested in careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. DECA enhances the preparation for college and careers by providing co-curricular programs that integrate into classroom instruction, apply learning, connect to business and promote competition. DECA student members leverage their experience to become academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders. DECA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with over 240,000 members in 3,600 high school and college chapters in nearly all 50 United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and Germany.
For more information about DECA, visit www.deca.org.
