More than just a few students stepped off the bus coming home from Rochester, NY, holding DECA State Career Conference awards. The three-day competition concluded with an awards ceremony that proved Great Neck’s dominance in the highly competitive business competition.
Amanda Cohn, Julia Kelly and Isabel Ugolini
Students who competed either had to present on a business idea that they had prepared during the previous few weeks or consult on a case they had read just 20 minutes earlier. Many events also included a test component, which is factored into the scoring. Students can compete individually or with partners,
depending on the event, which ranged from Hospitality Services to Business Law and Ethics to Automotive Services.
Many of the students who competed this week had to first qualify at a regional level; both Great Neck South and Great Neck North High School were extremely successful in both the regional and state competitions.
Great Neck South High sent 80 students to Rochester for the State Career Conference. Club President Rachael Brenner said that 46 percent of those who participated are moving on to the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Anaheim, CA. This is the highest percentage the school has sent to ICDC since the club was founded. Club Advisor Sheryl Demetres noted that more students advanced to ICDC this year than last year, despite only bringing two thirds of the students to states.
Great Neck North also preformed impressively. Club President Julia Hackman said that its chapter sent 91 students to the state competition and 31 would go onto the International competition in California, which is much stiffer as more than 10,000 high school students participate.
To see Great Neck South’s success at the ICDC competition, click here.
