Massapequa High School juniors Justin McGowan, Mark Fedoronko and Kevin Hitchings advanced to the DECA International Career Conference in Orlando, FL, after impressing judges at the state competition in Rochester in early March. Senior Colin McGuire joined them for the first time. This is the second year in a row that Massapequa has demonstrated strong business skills.
DECA or Distributive Education Clubs of America, is an international association of high school students and teachers who work on developing skills in marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance hospitality, sales and service.
Massapequa High School DECA advisor Charles Everitt and the four state award winners joined 18,000 of the most business-minded students and teachers from around the world to compete in their respective categories for international recognition. DECA has a total membership of 220,000 worldwide.
McGowan, Hitchings and Fedoronko, who is vice president of the club, competed in the International Business Plan category, the same category as last year. Their project consisted of a 30-page paper and presentation on the overseas expansion of the popular burger chain, Five Guys, to Buenos Aires, Argentina. McGuire made his mark in the Principles of Business Management category, which focuses on ethics in the workplace. In that category, McGuire was given 10 minutes to determine a way to handle a role-play situation. All four presented their work to a panel of judges and were asked a series of questions immediately following the presentation. While the students did not place in their categories in the international tournament, making it to the competition was an accomplishment in itself and the experience, they said, was “fun and rewarding.”
A total of 16 Massapequa students competed in the state competition against 3,000 students. In addition to the four award winners, four others earned medals for placing in the top 10 in their category. They included seniors Vinny Coghill, DECA president, and Jeremy Weiss, as well as juniors John Merz and A.J. Mastrobuoni. Coghill, Merz and Mastrobuoni came in fifth place and were next in line to compete in the international competition if a teammate had to drop out.
“The students have worked really hard since September to develop their projects and presentations,” said Everitt. “I am so proud of their achievements and the knowledge they gained through their experiences this year.”
