Thirty DECA students from Oxford High School won their events at the group’s state competition held at the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit March 14-16.
‘This year’s DECA performance was outstanding,? said Club Adviser and OHS teacher Steve Ruch. ‘The students did a wonderful job preparing their written proposals and presentations.?
DECA is a group of career-oriented students studying marketing, finance, hospitality, business management and entrepreneurship. It has more than 185,000 members in 5,000 high school chapters from all 50 states and nine countries.
Given a total of 35 OHS students participated in the state competition, that means 85.7 percent of them earned the right to compete at DECA’s international conference May 2-7 in Atlanta, Georgia.
‘In addition to all of their hard work and dedication, this group of students displayed a tremendous desire to work together and help one another make their projects the best that they could be,? Ruch said.
The highest number of students Oxford’s ever had qualify for the international competition was 33 and the highest percentage was 90, according to Ruch.
Oxford DECA’s state winners included Titus Shumaker, William Horne, Andrew Snable, Andrew Knox, Blake Stepek, Adam Schlicht, Katelyn Cramer, Gabby Fallis, Savannah Speed, Travis Simat, Brandon Astrino, Tristan Taraski, Maura Green, Anna Harrison, Andrew Grant, Hunter Deplaunty, Bailey Kammerer, Samantha Medici, Madisyn Barsanti, Courtney Bocquet, Sommer Desotell, Skylar Kurmas, Dominic Biolchini, Lars Joergens-Kokate, Morgan Mobley, Sarah Shaker, Carly Vandamme, Jesse Downs, Breeze Muscarella and Alexis Waple.
‘I would just like to thank all of the students for working so very hard,? Ruch said. ‘I just wish that all of my DECA groups would have qualified because I truly thought they were all deserving.?