Over fourteen thousand high school students, business professionals, marketing teachers and volunteers gathered in Salt Lake City, UT, to partake in DECA’s International Career Development Conference (ICDC). Orono High School was proud to send 43 national qualifiers to this conference. This year’s DECA theme was “Aspire Higher” and many of the Orono students believe they did just that on their DECA journey.
“Hiking the mountain was definitely a moment where we ‘aspired higher.’ We were all united under the common goal to reach the summit. It was an amazing bonding experience,” said Senior Alec Preuter.
The four day conference is jam-packed with events. Aside from competing, the students attended a baseball game, a fashion show and the Eli Young Band concert. “I didn’t know any of the [Eli Young Band] songs but it was actually so fun! We also passed his tour bus when we driving back home which was really coincidental and funny,” said Senior Kelsey Longe.
Many of the Orono students were pleasantly surprised when the winners of the first season of America’s Best Dance Crew, The Jabawockeez, performed a compilation of their routines at the Opening Ceremonies. “The Jabawockeez were so good! It might have been my favorite part of the trip,” stated Kelsie Quast.
“For those who qualify to Nationals, you are striving for the competition on Preliminary Monday,” said Keith Jurek, OHS DECA Advisor and marketing teacher. On Preliminary Monday, each student competes in their respective events. The next morning, competitors find out if they are finalists at a Preliminary Award Ceremony. This year DECA dogs had 4 teams make the final round.
The Orono DECA program welcomed a new face this year, Jurek’s student teacher Kaitlyn O’Reilly. “DECA has taught me that you don’t have to be the smartest or best at what you do to succeed, you just have to work the hardest,” said O’Reilly
The students drove over 26 hours to attend the conference and were extremely successful, returning home with many awards. The team of Allie Esau, Sophia Sodhi and Talia Zadeh competed in the event Public Relations Project and placed in the top 16. The team of Ellie Heidorn and Cora McCuskey competed in Sports and Entertainment Marketing Operations Event and placed in the top 10. Kelsey Longe competed in Independent Entrepreneurship Participating Event and placed in the top 10, as well. And bringing home a bronze third place award, was the team of Maddy Brown and Abbey Saville, who competed in the International Business Plan event.
According to Jurek, success is not determined by the number of medals or students who qualified for ICDC. Jurek places high value on the lessons, skills and confidence that DECA teaches students, regardless of how far they make it, competition wise. “What’s truly rewarding is all the compliments I received from those who interacted with my students,” said Jurek.
Talia Zadeh is Editor-in-Chief for The Spartan Speaks
