Thirty-three DECA students will travel to Orlando, Fla. on Friday to compete in the International Career Development Conference. In late February, DECA students competed at the State Career Development Conference alongside 4,380 students from 224 other Texas schools.  

“Advancing to ICDC was an amazing feeling,” senior Aditi Rao said. “My partner and I had worked so hard so we really wanted to advance. When our names got called in front of all of Texas DECA it was a surreal experience!”

The students traveling to Orlando will compete in Role Play, Professional Selling, Written and Virtual Business events. At the state meet, DECA earned three Thrive Leadership Academy positions for recognition as a Diamond Chapter and placed third in the “It Can Wait” Pledge Drive.

“Our DECA chapter has been competing since January to get to this last step,” Katie Young, business and marketing teacher, said. “You have to be the top of each level to advance on, so these really are the best kids. State was located in Dallas and we took over 90 kids.  Having a third of our kids advance is crazy, but they definitely deserve it!”

At ICDC, students have to portray themselves as experts in their chosen topic to the judges. Depending on their event they will have done research and prepared something ahead of time, or they’ll be given a scenario with a limited among of time to prepare their presentation.  

“Knowing whether or not I would advance to ICDC was hard to tell,” Rao said. “There was a single judge that judged everyone in your section, in my case Finance Operations Research, so it really depended on if they liked your idea or not. Nonetheless, I had worked so hard so all I did was hope for the best.”

Young said all the advisors were proud of the kids in DECA. She is hopeful to see a lot of them on stage at the closing ceremony in Orlando.

“It is exciting to have so many students place,” Young said. “These kids put in a lot of hours on their own to excel to the level they are at, so it’s really a statement to how great our kids at Vandegrift are.”

Business teachers Candace Nassar, Natalie Moeckel, Kari Michalek Young will join the kids in Orlando with two parent volunteers. The group will visit Universal Studios one day and Disney World another day. In between will be DECA’s opening ceremony, competition and closing ceremony.

“[Going to Orlando] will definitely be a mix of competition and fun,” Rao said. “It will definitely be a busy week, but I couldn’t be more excited to go.”

List of students going to Orlando

Celina Pan Advanced To ICDC, Professional Selling
Neel Agarwal Advance to ICDC, Role Play Business Finance
Dylan McKenzie Advance to ICDC, Role Play Business Finance
Lauren Branard Advance to ICDC, Role Play Business Law and Ethics
Ashley Novit Advance to ICDC, Role Play Business Law and Ethics
Hannah Jackson Advance to ICDC, Role Play Business Law and Ethics
Faryal Jabbar Advance to ICDC, Role Play Business Law and Ethics
Eric Morris Advance to ICDC, Role Play Business Law and Ethics
Grant Shaffer Advance to ICDC, Role Play Business Law and Ethics
Akansha Chawla Advance to ICDC, Role Play Buying and Merchandising
Lekha Sripathi Advance to ICDC, Role Play Buying and Merchandising
Allison Osorio Advance to ICDC, Role Play Buying and Merchandising
Anna Schmeil Advance to ICDC, Role Play Buying and Merchandising
Christ Heldebrandt Advance to ICDC, Role Play Financial Services
Jackson Hiduke Advance to ICDC, Role Play Financial Services
Sierra Held Advance to ICDC, Role Play Marketing Management
Spurthi Kodkani Advance to ICDC, Role Play Marketing Management
Aayush Dwivedi Advanced To ICDC, Role Play Restaurant and Food Service Management
Vishal Sagi Advanced To ICDC, Role Play Sports and Entertainment Marketing
Gorti Varun Advanced To ICDC, Virtual Business Hotel Management
Trinh Nguyen Advanced To ICDC, Virtual Business Hotel Management
Mahi Patel Advanced To ICDC, Finance Operations
Aditi Rao Advanced To ICDC, Finance Operations
Mimi Nickerson Advanced To ICDC, Innovation Plan
Eesha Patel Advanced To ICDC, Innovation Plan
Ashritha Chandy Advanced To ICDC, Integrated Marketing Campaign–Service
Kaya Kimball Advanced To ICDC, Integrated Marketing Campaign–Service
Devan Patel Advanced To ICDC, International Business Plan
Thompson Schmeil Advanced To ICDC, International Business Plan
Emily Reeder Advanced To ICDC, Start-Up Business Plan
Hannah Schinzing Advanced To ICDC, Start-Up Business Plan
Christopher Upp Advanced To ICDC, Start-Up Business Plan
Spandana Kamepalli Advanced To ICDC, Start-Up Business Plan