King Philip DECA finalists pose for a picture at the live Grand Awards session at King Philip High School. (Photo courtesy King Philip Regional School District)
WRENTHAM — Superintendent Paul Zinni, King Philip DECA Marketing Coordinator James Dow and King Philip DECA Vice President of Marketing Riley Abrams are pleased to announce that King Philip DECA members earned the organization’s highest honors at DECA’s International Career Development Conference (ICDC) last month.
During the month of April, nearly 13,000 DECA members competed in the ICDC virtual conference. DECA members qualified for the competition after placing in state and regional competitions designed to stimulate real-life business scenarios and test students’ academic understanding and skill development earlier this year.
“I’m very pleased to see how well King Philip DECA members performed at this year’s virtual International Career Development Conference,” Dow said. “Each and every member has shown immense dedication to their projects and I couldn’t be prouder.”
Most of DECA’s ICDC 59 competitive events each fielded approximately 175 competition entries, representing thousands of competitors at the local, regional and state/provincial levels. In these events, King Philip DECA members were part of the 15% of competitors who earned an international medallion for their excellence on an exam or presentation, or as an overall finalist.
“These DECA members should be commended for earning the remarkable recognition as an international honoree,” said Frank Peterson, executive director of DECA Inc. “Their success in our competitive events program — especially in a virtual format — is just one indicator that they are striving to be college and career ready through their classroom learning.”
DECA members who received recognition at the international level include:
- Seniors Courtney Keswick and Aly Wood received third place in the Buying and Merchandising Operations Research (BMOR) category for their project on Sun Bum
- Senior Jaclyn Anderson received fourth place in the Sports and Entertainment Marketing Operations Research (SEOR) category for her project on Ignite Cheer
- Juniors Laura Gelsomini and Haley Izydorczak received seventh place in the Business Solutions Project (PMBS) category for their project on R.E.C.O.V.E.R
- Juniors Samantha Asprelli and Isabella Fraone also received seventh place in the Business Solutions Project (PMBS) category for their project on Wonderfund
- Sophomores Lainey Grant and Amelia Lerner received seventh pace in the Integrated Marketing Campaign Services (IMCS) category for their project on Fresh Air Fund
- Junior Josh Raimer placed in the top 16 of competitors in the Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan (EIP) category for his project on Exter
- Seniors Russell Kitsis placed in the top 16 of competitors in the Buying and Merchandising Operations Research (BMOR) category for his project on Marathon Sports
“I am so thankful to win glass and so appreciative of the support that our team and our chapter received,” said Aly Wood, who was recognized as the third place BMOR winner along with partner Courtney Keswick.
During the conference, DECA members presented case study solutions and presentations through recorded videos, with approximately the top 20 competitors in each competitive event earning the opportunity to deliver a final presentation in a virtual meeting with a business professional live over Zoom. At the conference, nearly 1,000 business professionals from across the world evaluated DECA members’ concepts, ideas and projects against industry-validated performance indicators.
“As an integral component of classroom instruction, our industry-validated competitive events program helps ensure that DECA members learn the knowledge and skills that industry says are important to be successful in their future career,” said Christopher Young, chief program officer at DECA Inc. “Business professionals volunteer to evaluate DECA members against those standards in determining our international champions, thus reinforcing our DECA members’ career readiness.”
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.
In addition to career-based competition, DECA members engaged in a series of leadership sessions, watched an interview with keynote speaker Marcus Lemonis from CNBC’s The Profit, and streamed video presentations provided by more than 50 internationally recognized businesses.
About King Philip DECA:
The King Philip DECA chapter is proud to announce that for the ninth straight year (of course, not counting 2020), our chapter has had members named as International DECA Champions. Seven of our teams (most in MA) were announced as International Finalists, five of those teams (most in MA) achieved top 10 status, and one of these teams earned “DECA Glass” by finishing third place internationally.
KP DECA qualified more teams to attend this virtual conference and placed more teams in the final round of competition than any other school in MASS-DECA for the third year in a row. In addition, out of the five glass trophies earned by MASS-DECA , one belongs to KP DECA!
King Philip DECA is a high school business organization. The group is part of a larger network of over 215,000 high school students around the world. DECA prepares young leaders and entrepreneurs, in high schools and colleges, globally for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.
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Courtney Keswick (left) and Aly Wood received third place in the Buying and Merchandising Operations Research (BMOR) category for their project on Sun Bum. (Photo courtesy King Philip Regional School District)