On Friday, April 26, four Seniors in DECA flew down to Anaheim to participate in the 2024 International DECA competition. These four students, Aiden Craft, Jenna Hilsenteger, Madison Hodge, and Madison Sorensen, had previously placed in State competitions in February. As duos, Aiden Craft and Jenna Hilsenteger won seventh place overall for the School-Based Enterprise category and were able earn a gold-level recertification for The Den. Madison Sorenson and Madison Hodge earned 3rd place overall in Career Development.
DECA provides curriculum for Marketing and Hospitality and Tourism students and holds competitions for those students. The competition consists of a case study and a detailed presentation of a report on their chosen marketing or hospitality and tourism category. A case study is a real-world example of a problem one may have within a business. Competitors will role-play the given role in a business and use their creativity to find the best solution to the problem.
Before they went to Internationals, the students wrote a detailed report about their respective categories. They then prepped their 15-minute presentation on the report by practicing their teammate coordination and doing many mock presentations with their topic boards. This helped build confidence and fluidity in their presentation, which they presented to a judge for the competition.
Despite the duo’s working diligently to give the best presentation for their prepped report and case study, they weren’t able to place in international competition. Afterward, they were able to spend a day in Disney’s California Adventures and were even able to play beach volleyball at Huntington Beach before returning home on Wednesday, May 1.
