Members of the Kimberly High School DECA chapter joined over 1,500 high school business, finance, hospitality and marketing students at the Wisconsin State Career Development Conference (SCDC) at the Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva February 24-26.
Kimberly DECA was represented by a mix of first-year competitors and experienced DECA Members. Regardless of experience, the conference offers students a variety of opportunities to improve their communication skills, grow as leaders, and network with business-minded students. As a first-time SCDC competitor, Aubrey VerBockel, said “I learned many new skills that will continue to help me grow and improve throughout my experience with DECA and beyond high school. I am looking forward to new opportunities from competing at SCDC.” On the experienced member side, Connor Lindenberg, said “I had the incredible opportunity to build on my professional and speaking skills, network with others across the state, and learn important lessons like the importance of even small details. I cannot thank DECA enough for all the friends I've made and the growth I've seen in myself over my four years as a member.”
The following students received recognition at the state level:
Hospitality Services Team Decision Making
Connor Lindenberg and Greta Melzl, First Place
Community Giving Project
Gavin Feistel and Jason Krizan, Third Place
Connor Lindenberg, Finalist
Independent Business Plan
Sydney Weyenberg, Third Place
Principles of Business Management
Jacob Ostermann, Event Finalist, Role Play and Test Medalist
Food Marketing Series
Gavin Feistel, Role Play Medalist
Integrated Marketing Campaign: Product
Greta Melzl, Test Medalist
Principles of Entrepreneurship
Aiden O'Rourke, Test Medalist
Additionally, the Kimberly DECA Chapter won the GooseChase scavenger hunt competition at the conference. Overall, 9 of the 13 Kimberly students who attended the state conference earned the opportunity to attend the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) that will be held April 26-29, 2025, in Orlando, FL.
As an integral part of the classroom curriculum, DECA’s industry-validated competitive events are aligned with the National Curriculum Standards in the career clusters of marketing, business management and administration, finance, and hospitality and tourism. DECA’s competitive events directly contribute to every student being college and career-ready when they graduate from high school.
About DECA Inc.
DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs with a career interest in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA enhances the preparation for college and careers by providing co-curricular programs that integrate into classroom instruction, apply
learning, connect to business and promote competition. DECA student members leverage their DECA experience to become academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders. DECA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with over 287,000 members in more than 4,000 high school and college chapters in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Germany.
For more information about DECA, visit www.deca.org.