MHS DECA has another successful trip to state competition

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Provided by Justin McGowan

7 DECA members headed towards nationals.

In early March, the MHS DECA Club attended the state competition. DECA, or Distributive Education Clubs of America, is an international association of high school students and teachers who have taken interest in or chosen to pursue careers relating to marketing, management, entrepreneurship, finances, hospitality, sales or service.  What students do is comparable to what goes on on ABC’s hit TV show Shark Tank as they present in front of a panel of judges at the regional level to make it to states and then in the state level to make it in onto the national competition. Led by advisors Mr. Edward Aromando and Mr. Charles Everitt, the students began their journey to the competition back in September when the club started meeting on Mondays after school.

Sixteen students competed at the regional level in January where they faced about 300 other students from across Nassau County. Sophomore Justin Buckenberger qualified for the state competition in the automotive sales category. Many of the other students who competed were there to sharpen their presentation skills as they had already secured a spot  in the state competition. This is one of the many great features of DECA —  there are many categories in which students write a 10-30 page paper on an assigned subject in order to go straight to states with a chance at making nationals. First year members also get a pass right to states.

On March 8, the students boarded a bus for an eight hour ride up to Rochester for the state competition wherein they competed in their respective categories against students from all over New York with a chance to make it on to the International Career Development Conference, which will be held in Nashville, Tennessee in late April of this year. On Friday March 11 the students found out whether or not they would be moving on to the next round in Nashville.

Seniors Miranda McLeer, Jennie Toutoulis, and Jackie Angelo competed in the sports and entertainment marketing category and, though they didn’t make it on to Nashville, they still came in 7th place; quite the accomplishment considering it was a rather large category, consisting of over 20 other groups. Justin Buckenberger ended up coming in 5th place, one spot away from making nationals but he will still be going to Nashville to attend the DECA leadership conference, an event in which students sharpen their business skills.

For a the third straight year, Massapequa dominated the International Business plan category as a group of seniors, Mark Fedoronko, A.J. Mastrobuoni, and John Merz, came in first place in the category. Last year a different Massapequa group had came in  first place as well and the year before that that same group came in fourth place and made it to nationals. This year their project was to expand a nutritional supplement product overseas to Finland. They had to write a 30 page paper and do a presentation to a panel of judges at the state competition.

“We’re going to Nashville, baby!” senior A.J. Mastrobuoni said.

Joining them will be Kris Kaczorowski, Lincoln Clark, and the author of this article. These three students received a direct entry to Nationals as they wrote a 50 page paper about the Massapequa High School School Store, commonly referred to as the Trading Post. With the help of Mr. Aromando and Mr. Everitt along with business teachers Mrs. Denise Delury and Mrs. Marianne Conte, they were able to put together a sale of Massapequa High School coffee mugs with assorted candy and sell them around Christmas time. They also participated in a sale of school spirit merchandise. These sales raised money for the club and, at the same time, helped them write their paper. In early January, they submitted their paper and heard back about a month later that they would be going to Nationals.

“Since I’ve never been to Nashville, I’m definitely looking forward to this experience.” Kris Kaczorowski said. “Our hard work has definitely paid off.” With MHS DECA taking seven students to Nationals, this is the most they’ve brought in a long time.

“The fact that seven students are attending the National competition this year shows how much hard work and dedication the students have put in and how much progress the club has made this year,” club advisor, Mr. Edward Aromando, said.

The International Career Development Conference in Nashville, commonly referred to as “Nashionals” by many students, will take place from Saturday April 23 through Tuesday April 26.

“Since it’s my first year I’m really looking forward to the DECA experience, meeting people from all over the country, and visiting the city of Nashville with the many sites that it has to offer,” Lincoln Clark said.  With this being the first time at Nationals for five of the seven students, they are definitely looking forward to it.

“My objective was to make DECA very active this year and that has clearly paid off. Projects such as the school store and the shoe drive with the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless have given more students the opportunity to get involved and the main reason interest has grown within the club,” Mark Fedoronko said, who is going to Nationals for his third year in a row and is the club’s president.

In Nashville the students will be competing against 18,000 other students from across the country as well as Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, Canada, and China. Needless to say, these successful students will represent Massapequa on the international stage. Good luck to all!

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