Youth Connection: Bellevue DECA Teams Aim High in National Conference

DECA’s International Career Development Conference took off this year as more than 14,000 high school student participants, advisors, businesspeople and alumni gathered in Orlando, Florida from April 30- May 3 to compete in a wide variety of categories of business, from marketing to finance. Hosted at the Orange County Convention Center, people came to compete for a title in their respective events and have fun in the process.

This year’s conference began with DECA’s first-ever “Dash with the Diamonds 5k,” in which all proceeds went to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. There were also awards for the top walkers, runners, fundraisers, and more. Later that evening, the excitement continued with the Opening Ceremony and a Parade of State/Provincial Flags. The competitors had a chance to meet their 2010 national officers, as well as listen to messages from successful business people. The ceremony ended with a fashion show, which showcased the creations of the winners of DECA’s Fashion Design and Merchandising competition.

In the next couple days, the real competition took place. All participants took their written tests (a different 100 question test is given per event category, and amounts to half of the total score), and received times for their events. These events included role plays, in which participants are given a situation they must render to the judges, and  presentations, in which participants prepare posters ahead of time and present their ideas to a judge. At the end of these days, the scores were tallied and competitors were notified if they scored high enough to make it into the finals. Finalists then continued on to compete in another round.

Even though it may seem like the conference was all about competition, DECA held this annual event in Orlando for a reason. Most competitors took advantage of the amazing theme parks nearby - Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando. The two resorts even held a “DECA Day,” when they kept parks open a couple hours later for DECA participants to fully enjoy them.

Those who arrived earlier even had a chance to go to Disney’s “Grad Night,” a 39-year-old tradition in which high school seniors gather at the Magic Kingdom to enjoy an all night party with chart-topping performance artists such as Taio Cruz, 3OH!3 and Pete Wentz.

Bellevue's Winners

Isabel Chien and Amanda Sie ()—Top 10 Overall
Manning Fen (Newport) —Finalist
Tia Smith (Newport)—Finalist
Emma Sullivan and Gina Tang ()—Top 10 Overall
Julia Zhan and Shanyi Gu (Interlake)—Top 10 Overall
Daniel Warwick and Daniel Gorrie (Interlake)—Finalist
Kanika Verma (Interlake)—Top 10 Overall
Kathleen Zhou (Interlake)—Top 10 Overall
and others receiving medals for individual portions of their event.

Congratulations to everyone who competed!

--- Emily Jiang writes for, a publication of.