Last month, the Massapequa High School DECA Club attended the state competition, which is held every year. DECA, which stands fo
r 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 in a wide array of fields of business. Led by advisors Edward Aromando and Charles Everitt, the students began their journey to the competition back in September, when the club started meeting on Mondays after school.
Fourteen students boarded a bus for an eight-hour ride up to Rochester for the state competition in which 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, TN, this year in late April. 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, still came in seventh place; quite the accomplishment considering it was a rather large category that consisted of more than 20 other groups. Justin Buckenberger came in fifth place, one spot away from making nationals but he will still be going to Nashville to attend the conference.
For a 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. Their project consisted of expanded 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 came in first place at states, let’s win Nationals too,” said Merz, who will also be going to Nationals for the first time. Buckenberger, Fedoronko, Mastrobuoni and Merz will all be moving on to Nashville. Also going with them will be Justin McGowan, Kris Kaczorowski, and Lincoln Clark, who 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 Aromando and Everitt and business teachers Denise Delury and Marianne Conte, the three were able to put together a sale of Massapequa High School coffee mugs with assorted candy and sell them. They also participated in a sale of school spirit merchandise.
“Our hard work has definitely paid off,” said Kaczorowski.
“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,” said Aromando.
The International Career Development Conference, commonly referred to as “Nashionals” by the students, will take place from Saturday, April 23 through Tuesday, April 26.
“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,” said Fedoronko. “I would like to thank Mr. Aromando and Mr. Everitt and my fellow club officers Kristen, Miranda and Justin for their hard work, which is ultimately the reason why we have many students going to Nationals this year.”
The students will also be competing against 18,000 other students from across the country as well as Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, Canada and China. They will also take part in many DECA sponsored activities, which include a concert at the Grand Ole Opry, a cruise down the Cumberland River, which runs through Nashville, a Nashville Sounds baseball game and visiting many museums.
—Submitted by Justin McGowan, DECA Club publicity coordinator at Massapequa High School
