By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News
Several Vandegrift DECA students came back as winners from the International Career Development Conference in Atlanta in late April.
VHS DECA had two teams make it as finalists in their competitive events and placed in the top ten of international competition: Nivitha Kandula and Anaika Eledath in Buying & Merchandising Team Decision Making; and Jerry Lou and Shane Moe in Virtual Business Restaurant.
“All of our competitors represented Vandegrift well and it is such an accomplishment just to make it to ICDC and we are proud of each of them,” said Nicholas Benson, VHS business department teacher and first year DECA advisor.
The following students represented Vandegrift in Atlanta in the DECA 2022 ICDC competing among thousands of competitors from around the world.
These 15 Vipers earned themselves a place among 1,300 Texan students in Atlanta:
Jai Reddy in Automotive Services Marketing Series
Jerry Lou & Shane Moe in Virtual Business
Anaika Eledath & Nivitha Kandula in Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making
Bryan Dam & Lahari Suraparaju in Integrated Marketing Campaign – Event
Ashritha Chandy & Kaya Kimball in Integrated Marketing Campaign – Service
Cynthia Chen in Marketing Communications Series
Camilo Gonzalez, Wes Nickerson & Michael Vanston
in Project Management Business Solutions
Arianna Brar in Professional Selling Event
Anya Chawla in Professional Selling Event
DECA sent 35 Viper students to the Texas DECA State Career Development Conference in Houston in February.
“We couldn’t have achieved this success without the help and support of the following teachers: Sherri Green, Erin Lucas, Erin Mathis, and Kari Michalek<” Benson said. “A special thank you to Whitney Hickle, Phyllis Boddorf, Charlie Little, and Kari Michalek for all of their support to me.”
DECA’s competitive events program is aligned to National Curriculum Standards in the career clusters of marketing, business management, finance, and hospitality and tourism. With categories such as the Integrated Marketing Campaign, Start-Up Business Plan, Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making, Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling and Business Finance, the competitive events are designed to simulate real-life business scenarios and test students’ academic understanding and skills development.
