On March 1-3, 14 DECA Freedom students traveled to Hershey, Pa. to compete in the Pennsylvania State Career Development Conference (SCDC).
On the first day of the conference, students took a 100-question test in their respective categories. The following day, students performed roleplays of a business situation. They were given a business scenario, 10 minutes to determine a solution and prepare and five minutes to present to one or two judges.
PA DECA Treasurer, Senior Louis Dubovi and Senior Dereck Majors prepared a manual on employee engagement and appreciation for Lawnworks, Inc., in Zelienople, Pa that they had been preparing since August.
“We then formed a 15-minute presentation on our manual to present in front of a judge, who took the role as CEO [or] Manager of the business. We also created two posters with graphs pertaining to our presentation that were displayed for the judge,” Majors said.
“Luckily, Dereck and I had a very thorough presentation. The judge was really impressed with both the manual and the presentation, and we were only asked two previously written questions. They were both really general, and I think the judge just asked them because he felt obligated to,” Dubovi said. District 2 Representative, Senior Reilly Collins and Sophomore Rachel DeCesaris also prepared a manual for a fashion merchandising and promotion plan.
The closing ceremony was held on March 11, where Senior Lara Pavlick had the opportunity to sing the national anthem. At the ceremony, it was announced that three teams and one individual from Freedom placed in the top four of their respective category. Dubovi and Majors placed first in Business Operations and Services Research, Senior Grace Hutchison and Junior Michael Fricke placed second in Travel and Tourism and Collins and DeCesaris placed fourth in Fashion Merchandising Promotion.
“I still remember shaking before heading into my first role play at SCDC my freshman year, having in the back of my mind that there were 40 other teams in my category that were most likely more prepared than I was. By finally coming out on top feels amazing and it shows that hard work leads to a rewarding finish,” Majors said.
Because of their ranking, Dubovi, Majors, Hutchison, Fricke, Collins and DeCesaris all qualified for the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Nashville, Tenn. on April 22-26. Sophomore Kitt Jordan also placed third as an individual in Materials Handling and Logistics, but will not be competing at nationals since her category is state-level.
“To go to nationals before becoming the District 2 rep is very surreal. I got to interact with my officer team at states and, knowing that most of us are now going to nationals, allows me to make more friends and build that bond with them,” DeCesaris said, who was elected the District 2 Representative at the district competition on Dec. 14, 2015.
According to Dubovi, he and Majors plan to work towards a top ten placing at the international conference.
“The competition is only going to get more difficult, so we are really going to have to give it everything we’ve got,” Dubovi said.