Orono seniors Ellie Heidorn and Cora McCuskey dedicated more than 100 hours into the project that would earn them second place at the International DECA Conference in Anaheim, CA.

“It definitely was a lot of work; we probably put more time than we needed into it, but it was well worth it standing on the podium in front of thousands of people,” said McCuskey.

The two students wrote an entrepreneurship 30-page paper and project on Cafe Vita, a nutritional, healthy-eating restaurant located in downtown Minneapolis. “Basically we wrote up a plan for someone, if they had the money, to start up the business. It includes all the financials, business plans, promotional ideas – everything someone would need to run a business from the ground up,” said Heidorn.

According to Keith Jurek, marketing teacher at Orono High School, the entrepreneurship project is one of the most competitive categories in DECA. Heidorn and McCuskey were among the top 160 students across the country make it to the International conference.

“I see all walks of life at the International conference,” Jurek said. “ In the entrepreneurship projects you see the brightest, most hard-working students out there. All projects are hard, but there is something about this project that takes the right people to succeed.”

In Jurek’s class, McCuskey and Heidorn had been working on their project since September. “We wanted to get a good start right off the bat. The key thing that helped us was finding our mentor Mr. Sams, who helped us completely redefine our financial plans,” said McCuskey.

With only an accounting background, the two had to research and calculate a total financial plan for the business, including all expenses like utilities, electricity, heating and water.

“Even taking accounting during sophomore year didn’t prepare us for what we were up against. We had no idea how to run a business or even how to start,” said Heidorn.

“We didn’t actually find our mentor until after districts. Then we realized that our financials were a wreck! He told us it was completely wrong so we probably spent about 10 hours re-doing our plan,” added McCuskey.
“It was the best thing we could do for our project because once he re-explained our financials and how they were supposed to be, we understood it 100 percent better which helped us make it more clear to the judges when presenting,” said Heidorn.

After the DECA District competition, in which the two won third place, Heidorn and McCuskey believed that redefining their financial plans and putting the extra hours into their project is what set it apart from the rest of their competition.

Jurek encourages every DECA student to find a mentor. Not only does it help them with their projects, but it teaches skills that the students can use in their daily lives, such as setting up the interview, preparing questions and learning to hold a professional conversation.

“I can only take them so far with my knowledge, the only people who know the industry are the people in the industry. That’s why I highly recommend students to find a mentor,” said Jurek.

One of the major advantages that the two had was their ability to work well together. They knew their project like the back of their hand so when one person forgot what they were going to say, the other knew exactly where to pick up.

“Surprisingly, our only major setback was our flash drive. At times it wouldn’t work, or we would panic because we couldn’t find our information. For most DECA students if that was their only bump in the road, they would take it. We are really lucky that we started our project early so we could have that extra time to make it perfect,” McCuskey said.

That doesn’t mean that the 100 plus hours they put into their project didn’t help, however. With the help of their mentor and Mr. Jurek, the passion they had for their project and the motivation to get to the national conference, they were stand outs from the other 160 competitors and landed on the podium.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Ellie and Cora; they complement each other so well. Something about this project is unique, not every student can do it, let alone successfully. From the very beginning it was very clear they had the drive and motivation to push through all the way to the International conference,” said Jurek.

Allie Hirschberg is the Business Manager for The Spartan Speaks.