On April 24, students from the DECA team represented Michigan for the annual International Career Development Conference in Anaheim, California. The students that represented DHS were  seniors Abby Currie, Billy Scheutte, Jackie Ito, Elizabeth Maier, and juniors Jack Flanagan, Vikram Shanker and Nick Smith. Billy Scheutte was placed among the top 10 marketing students in the world. The number of people who were chosen to be recognized was only 3% out of the total of 15,000 students who competed. This is a big accomplishment for the students at DHS who attended the event, especially considering the number of people who attended not only from the state, but world-wide.

The only international organization to help students promote understanding and appreciation for responsibilities in a competitive enterprise system is DECA. DECA tries to attract students in areas such as enterprising, marketing, merchandising, and management. The DECA teamjoined around 600 marketing students from Michigan who go to 77 different high schools and career centers. Out of over 6,600 marketing students, they were selected as the best. Over 16,500 DECA members competed for recognition along with $300,000 worth of cash, scholarships, and stocks. Among the groups who competed were members from all 50 states in the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Korea, and Germany.

The judges were represented by over 1,500 business professionals who were both domestic and international. These professionals chose which students had the skills that were necessary to become leaders in their industry.

“The experience was actually pretty cool because it’s a group that has some people that I know better than others,” said junior Vikram Shanker. “It’s pretty cool getting to meet new people and you learn a lot.”

Vikram Shanker was the recipient of a test medal for his occupational test on Travel and Tourism.

“It was something I really didn’t expect because walking out of the test I thought I’ve done well but not well enough to place,” said Shanker. “In the national competition there’s so many kids taking it who have spent a lot of time studying for it so I was honestly really surprised especially it being a test medal.”