Westonka DECA members earned the organization’s highest honors at DECA’s International Career Development Conference (ICDC) held virtually during the month of April this year.

DECA members receiving recognition at the international level include:

• Senior Lily Donelan – Restaurant and Food Service High Score Role Play Presentation Medal
• The Rise Westonka Team of seniors Avery Finck, Grace Peterson, Avery Robbins and Lily Sipprell and sophomore Matthew Uhas – Community Awareness Chapter Project Finalists Medal and 7th Place Medal
• Sophomore Ellen Pruitt – Integrated Marketing Campaign – Service High Score Presentation Medal, Finalists Medal and 6th Place Medal

Nearly 13,000 DECA members competed during the virtual conference. The DECA members above are part of 15% of competitors who earned an international medallion for their excellence on an exam or presentation or as an overall finalist.

“These DECA members should be commended for earning the remarkable recognition as an international honoree,” said Frank Peterson, executive director of DECA Inc. “Their success in our competitive events program—especially in a virtual format—is just one indicator that they are striving to be college and career ready through their classroom learning.”

DECA members presented case study solutions and presentations through recorded videos, with approximately the top 20 competitors in each competitive event earning the opportunity to deliver a final presentation in a virtual meeting with a business professional live over Zoom. Nearly 1,000 business professionals from across the world evaluated DECA members’ concepts, ideas and projects against industry-validated performance indicators.

Westonka DECA advanced 29 students to ICDC in 2021. Also competing were seniors Katie Clarke, Jacob Heins, Trent Kelly, Jack Ryall and Gabby Yonker; juniors Stephanie Anderson, Ingrid Aufderheide, Mason Brakemeier, Kathryn Butler, Kathryn Collins, Hallie Dierbeck, Anna Elliott, Jake Gaylord, Gabrielle LaFortune, Blake Lee, Samantha Pickert, Anna Reier, Coco Sir; sophomores Mason Evenson, Hailey Salwei and Laura Sunnarborg; and ninth-grader Sammy Krahl.

[More photos from the June 2 awards ceremony]