On Tuesday, 45 AMHS students traveled to the Lynwood Convention for the Area 2 DECA Competition.

Since the start of DECA last fall, the school has seen a lot of firsts – the first student store, the first business course, and now the first time over a dozen students will be competing at the state level. Senior Elliott Forde who was recently accepted to MIT, won first place in the Accounting and Applications category.

“It went really well considering it is our first year in the program. It was kind of stressful in the beginning because it was so foreign to me, but we did a lot of prep in class that introduced us to the whole role-play model, so afterwards I felt confident in my answers,” says Elliott.

The all-day competition is broken up into two types: individual and team competitions. The students have a defined prep time where they are given a role-play scenario. After their prep time, they present their solution and problem to the judge. The students must quickly think on their feet as the judge asks them several questions following their presentation.

“The students were well prepared, especially the students in our Business course, as we spent a week practicing role plays and discussing how to use their prep time effectively before their role play,” says DECA moderator Issac Melum. “DECA also does a wonderful job of giving the students resources on their national website and state websites. But ultimately, the students who wanted to be competitive needed to be self-driven and study outside of the classroom.”

Competition categories include: Apparel and Accessories, Sports Management, Accounting and Finance, Customer Service, Communications and Marketing, Human Resources, and more.

The qualifying students will compete at the State Career Development Conference (SCDC) is on March 5-7. If the students win at state, they will be offered the chance to compete nationally in Orlando, Florida.
AMHS State Competitors are:
• Connor Sand & Caroline Hoban
• Vivek Moolayil & Stephen Boden
• Joshua Parafina & Mitchell Boreseth (the only Juniors who qualified)
• Alexa Rauvola & Kristi Bartz
• Tate Johnson
• Tim Shur
• Elliott Forde
• MJ Park
• Kenny Ficklin