18 Thomas Jefferson DECA students compete at Colorado Springs in hopes of making it to the National level.
State DECA, funny group picture. Photo courtesy of Matt Nicolo.
On Saturday February 25, the 2011-2012 DECA students who qualified for State packed their bags and headed to Colorado Springs for four days and four nights to compete in the annual DECA State Conference in hopes of making in to the National Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah in April 21-24.
Every year DECA students go to a District competition, where students qualify for the State level. The state competitors head to the only five star resort hotel in Colorado, the Broadmoor. This year a total of 18 students competed in various events; Jeremy Albright, Corey Aldrich, Halen Alemseged, Ganbayar Bayarsaikhan, Tyler Bybee, Daniela Cordana, Kiera Classen, Sammie Erlacher, Monserrat Gonzalez, Aaron Hendricks, Corey Hernandez, Latrell McLennan, Tyler Moehlman, Abby Montgomery, April Regas, Quinton Riesnman, Robert Sato and Deja Trotman. “This year was special; everyone was really committed to making it far and everyone worked hard,” said DECA advisor, Matt Nicolo, as he explains the wonderful experience at the State Competition.
This year all the State competitors had to take a test and complete two role-plays while at the conference. A role-play is a scenario about the business category the qualifiers are in. The students prep to present to the judges the solution of the problem and hope for the best after that. On the first day, Saturday, the qualifiers took a tour of the Hotel, and enjoyed dinner at the Golf Course restaurant. “The food was definitely the best part; it was really good,” said Senior Latrell McLennan. The second day was the big test day for everybody; the test determined the fate for most of these qualifiers, other than the role-plays, where all the qualifiers hoped for the best results. “The test was a little challenging, but I think I did good for the most part,” added McLennan.
The third day “The Main Event,” was the most important to all the qualifiers. The students had two role-plays, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. They also got to do a couple workshops, such as life lesson speeches by comedian Joe Chavez and College speeches from Devry University. “This year was the best. All the workshops, the people, it was just an amazing experience,” said Senior Robert Sato, who has been to State all three years he has participated in DECA. There were also two required workshops the qualifiers had to take. The workshops were hosted by different colleges that gave the qualifiers a chance to interact with college admission advisors and make sure they are successful after high school.
On the fourth and final day, the competitors found out if they were finalist for the International Conference. First year DECA student, Jeremy Albright, qualified for finals in the Business Service Marketing event. “I was really surprised when they called me up there. The competition was intense, and to be called as a finalist was a really good feeling,” said Albright. Although he didn’t make it to nationals, he did say the whole experience was great for him.
“I was really proud of Jeremy, and everyone else that competed at State. Everyone had such a positive attitude, and all-in-all this year was great, and I look forward to an amazing group of kids next year,” said Nicolo.
