By Dveen Hagopian
Granada Hills Charter’s DECA team traveled to Santa Clara, California on Friday, February 28, to participate in the DECA State Competition. The competition lasted four days and was a huge success, with the 42 attendees collectively winning a total of 9 awards.
The team took home two Chapter Campaign Awards as well as two Chapter Awards. Numerous students were recognized as a Top 6 or Top 12 Finalist in their event.
Nick Perez, in a team with fellow juniors Julia Sisko and Liana Friedman ranked 7th Place for their Business Growth Plan. Individually, Perez placed in the Top 12 for Sports and Entertainment Marketing Individual role play. Juniors Yvette Tran and Junicarl Ferido placed 8th for Travel and Tourism team role play as well as 7th in the Project Management Community Awareness event.
Juniors David Solomon, Max Charcas, and Xavior Morante did exceptionally well, placing 1st Place in the Franchise Business Plan event. They now qualify for the International Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. In order to qualify, students must finish as one of the top four teams of their event against 30 to 100 teams. The upcoming conference is scheduled to take place from Tuesday, April 28 to Sunday, May 2.
“DECA has taught me not to settle and to try my best in everything I do. All the effort and time we put into this competition paid off by winning first place, which we are all so excited about and were not expecting,” Solomon said.
The process leading up to the conference was a long one. Each student had to complete his or her candidate requirements and prepare presentations. Every student was enrolled in two events, one of which focused on a start-up business plan and the other which consisted of a case study role play. After students chose which of the 20 individual categories they wanted to compete in, they met up every Tuesday to discuss logistics, rehearse their presentations, take practice exams, and make other preparations for the upcoming competition.
Each of the 42 attendees worked extremely hard and achieved great things at this conference, a true testament to their determination and dedication as DECA members.
“The biggest reward for students is when they receive recognition for their effort and are able to experience how it pays off. Being able to take the skills they learned in class and apply it in a real-life setting is not easy to achieve, but each student did an exceptional job of doing so,” DECA advisor Timothy Turnquist, said.
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