Fossil Ridge High School’s DECA has had quite a bit to celebrate lately with their 27 members who qualified for nationals after the State competition a few weeks ago.
DECA State took place Feb. 23-26 at the Broadmoor Hotel and Resort in Colorado Springs. Seventy-five students went and participated at the DECA state competition, and all of them worked hard to prepare to do their best. Junior Alyx Van Doren shed some light on how they prepared for State. “We practiced everyday in Marketing Lab. We also worked the whole first semester on our manuals and took a lot of practice tests. DECA districts also really helped us to anticipate what was going to happen at State.”
The hard work paid off because after State, the school had 27 national qualifiers, the most in Fossil Ridge history. All of the DECA members are proud of their classmates and of themselves for all the preparation and dedication they gave for State. “It’s really exciting,” said senior and nationals qualifier Jack Emery. “We have a record amount of people qualified, it’s awesome. State was magical.”
Nationals will take place April 24-27, in Anaheim, Calif.. One of the perks for the participants is that they will get to go to Disneyland and Universal Studios during their stay. Another qualifier, senior Madison Stute commented “I’m stoked for Disneyland.” When asked how they were going to prepare differently for Nationals, the qualifiers had many different methods. “I’m practicing,” said senior and qualifier Evan Steele, “but, a lot of DECA is just winging it.” Jack Emery had a very different view, admitting that he “never stopped preparing.” Alyx Van Doren disclosed that “the competition is a lot stiffer at Nationals, so I’ve already started studying. Hopefully then I’ll be ready by the time Nationals comes around.”
The vibe of everyone that qualified for Nationals is complete excitement, and they cannot wait to advance their skills and to see what they can really do. The students who qualified for Nationals are Julia Deitz, Everett Randle, Jack Emery, Madison Stute, Luis (Aron) Rodriguez, Alex Campana, Shelby Whitson, Ben Hartman, Maggie Marrick, Evan Steele, Alyx Van Doren, Megan Mills, Lanae Scherger, Kaitlin Ramirez, Alec Van Thorre, Joseph Jackson, Collin Rose, Zoe Goulding, Shayne Bontempo, Hunter Robinson, Chare Shyu, Kaily Adair, Britta Olsen, Colin Beard, Michael Reyna, and Alex Thompson.
