Fourteen juniors and seniors participated in the annual DECA competition at various malls throughout the St. Louis area on Feb. 12 to test different marketing skills.

“[The competition] really makes the students put into practice skills that they have been learning in class and on the job,” DECA sponsor Ms. Susan Hoffman said.

All DECA members were invited to participate in this year’s event.  They began their day at Chesterfield Mall with other DECA students from the St. Louis area. The first event of the competition included a one hundred question test that needed to be completed in an hour.

“The hardest part [of the day] was definitely the test,” senior Taylor Kennedy said. “It had a lot of professional words and I had no idea what most of them meant.”

Despite the challenging test, Kennedy managed to win a 1st place award, along with senior Zach Rogers in the Sports and Entertainment category. After finishing the written portion, Kennedy and Rogers were given scenarios that matched the Sports and Entertainment category. Their challenge was to create a market for a new minor league baseball team in a small community.

“We had twenty minutes to prepare a business and marketing plan in order to make sure that the team stayed in the city and was successful,” Kennedy said. “Once twenty minutes passed, we had to go to a “board” to present our ideas and answer any questions they had for us.”

Along with Kennedy and Rogers, four other seniors brought home awards from the competition. Seniors Alex Weldon and Katie Joffe received 2nd place in Principles of Hospitality and Tourism, senior Ben Fagin received 4th place in Automotive Service Marketing and senior Garrett Greeves received 5th in General Marketing.

 “I’m extremely proud of all of my students,” Hoffman said. “They had to put themselves in uncomfortable positions at this competition. They didn’t know anything about the events before they arrived, but it was truly exciting to see them apply their skills.”