This past weekend, sixty Fairfax HS (FHS) DECA members attended the State Leadership Conference in Virginia Beach. DECA, an organization dedicated to prepare high school and college students in careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management, holds regional, state, national and international competitions and conferences.
At the Virginia state conference held March 4-6 in Virginia Beach, FHS DECA students demonstrated their strengths through both a written component such as an exam, extensive marketing research with a business or organization, as well as an interactive component such as a presentation or role-play. Industry professionals served as the judges for the events.
As an integral part of the classroom curriculum, DECA’s industry-validated competitive events are aligned with the National Curriculum Standards in the career clusters of marketing, business management and administration, finance, and hospitality and tourism. DECA’s competitive events directly contribute to all participating students being college and career ready when they graduate from high school.
Fairfax High School DECA earned the highest recognition with the Blue Chip award for FHS DECA chapters’ program of work and annual report. Fairfax DECA was also recognized as a Diamond chapter for their membership that includes over 200 students, 20 professional members and 20 alumni members.
Grace Walters and Lucy Fitterer each earned a Virginia DECA Foundation scholarship.
The following nineteen students earned the opportunity to advance to the International Career Development Conference in Atlanta:
- Madison Knapp placed first overall in Hospitality and Tourism Personal Selling
- Ben Vicencio and Lucy Fitterer placed first overall in Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making
- Tait Eriksson and Devon Warner placed first overall in Sports and Entertainment Team Decision Making
- Delaney Adams placed second overall in Principals of Marketing
- Meredith Bacon placed second overall in Professional Selling
- Fabiyana Mungal placed second overall in Quick Service Restaurant Management
- Matthew Tzong and Aditya Suresh placed third overall in Financial Services Team Decision Making.
- Aisha Wurie placed third overall in Retail Merchandising.
- Ella Modes, Riya Menon, and Mollie Johnson placed third overall in Project Management Community Awareness.
- Darwin Otchere placed ninth overall in Automotive Services Marketing.
- Suhanee Singh placed ninth overall in Business Services Marketing.
- Arveen Nazemian and Nikash Pant placed ninth overall in Hospitality Services Team Decision Making
- Shyla Menon placed second overall in Social Media Marketing a VA Only event
The following students earned medals for placing in the top 10 on comprehensive exams and presentations. Darwin Otchere and Alka Singh (Automotive Services Marketing), Suhanee Singh (Business Services Marketing) Ben Vicencio and Lucy Fitterer (Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making), Matthew Tzong and Aditya Suresh (Financial Services Team Decision Making), Kunal Verma (Food Marketing), Alec Mitchell, Nikash Pant, and Arveen Nazemian (Hospitality Services Team Decision Making), Devon Warner and Tait Erikson (Sports and Entertainment Team Decision Making), Ryan McManus (Sports and Entertainment Team Decision Making), Matthew Oman (Human Resource Management), Sami Moudarres and Fabiyana Mungal (Quick Service Restaurant Management), Grace Walters and Aisha Wurie (Retail Merchandising), Delaney Adams and Tiffany Wang (Principles of Marketing), Meredith Bacon (Professional Selling), Kiran Ashok and Shyla Menon (Social Media) and Sarah Hegazy (Job Interview).