South Lakes Students Heading to California for International DECA Competition

Several local high school students will be heading to California next month after qualifying for the international DECA competition with their performances at the state competition last weekend.

DECA is an international association of teachers and students in marketing, management and entrepreneurship. Competitions are held across the world each year to allow students to show their skills in those fields and more.

Twenty-nine students from South Lakes High School participated in the state competition March 3-5 in Virginia Beach. Five individual students and three teams of students earned spots at the international competition in Anaheim, April 26-29.

Winning students were as follows:

• Sara Bhadra, freshman, Job Interview (third place)
• Kristine Paulikonis, sophomore, Principles of Hospitality and Tourism (state finalist)
• Vincent Giordano, freshman, Selling (state finalist)
• Isabelle Wnek, junior, Restaurant and Food Service Management (role play finalist)
• Allison McCue and Kimberly Yeatmen, sophomores, Hospitality Services Team Decision-Making (second place)
• Emily Taylor, Olivia Heatherly and Claire Thomas, seniors, Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research (second place)
• Peter Steidler and Liam Lawrence, sophomores, Business Law and Ethics Team Decision-Making (role play finalist)

In addition, Alex Loukili, a junior, was recognized as the top chartered association performer in the first round of the 2016-17 Virtual Business Challenge in Accounting, a collaborative effort between DECA-Marketing and FBLA’s Business Accounting students.

The South Lakes High School DECA chapter was also honored with the Annual Report Preferred Award, and SLHS marketing instructor and DECA sponsor Darlene Ricks earned the conference’s Outstanding DECA Advisor Award.

Photos courtesy South Lakes High School DECA chapter