By GIANNA MICIELI and ISABELLA FIORENTINO
LYNNFIELD — Nine DECA members from Lynnfield High School attended the State Career Development Conference (SCDC) that was recently held at the Westin Hotel in Boston’s Seaport.
After endless hard work and support, Lynnfield High School’s DECA chapter made it to the competitive SCDC. LHS students, accompanied by business teacher, Mr. Dobbins, spent the weekend at the Westin Hotel in the Seaport district. Over 4,000 high school students, advisors and business professionals gathered for the event, and competed in more than 50 categories related to marketing, finance, hospitality and entrepreneurship. These members embarked on countless adventures and learned incredibly valuable information that will help them, and the club, tremendously in the future. The DECA chapter learned this incredible information through real-life business experiences and networking with many other DECA members.
To qualify for states, individuals had to place in the top five of their category at Districts, or if you did not qualify, you could get chosen to compete in the Quiz Bowl Tournament alongside other schools. Thousands of students from across Massachusetts attended States to compete against each other, but also to find new connections and networking opportunities with people they are able to meet from all over the state. After the state qualifiers are announced, preparations begin. The Lynnfield DECA group had meetings after school to discuss and plan for the SCDC. The group practiced role-plays and did many practice tests so that they could score well at States.
The nine students (Gianna Micieli, Addison Munion, Isabella Fiorentino, Nandana Nishanth, Ereeny Georges, Lily Williams, Ava Cook, Aislin McCormack and Marianna Axiotakis) as well as Mr. Dobbins embarked on the journey to States. Once the group arrived, they waited for each person to present in their category. While waiting, the students had fun exploring the Seaport area, meeting new people, or even playing intense games of Heads Up. As the role plays finished and the evening progressed, all Massachusetts DECA members came together for the Opening Session.
Day two of States focused on preliminary rounds, with students competing in various events like role plays, and presentations, and two members competed in the Quiz Bowl Tournament. In the evening, the Achievement Awards Ceremony honored top performers, and DECA After Dark provided a fun networking opportunity and time to celebrate all the students’ great achievements. On the final day, top competitors faced off in the finals, leading to the Grand Awards Session, where the highest-scoring students were recognized. The conference provided a mix of competition, networking and celebration, offering valuable experiences for all.
Lynnfield DECA was recognized at the Opening Session where Addison Munion — the DECA Vice President — and Isabella Fiorentino walked the stage holding the proud Lynnfield banner, designed by Fiorentino. In the large crowd, the other Lynnfield members cheered loudly as Lynnfield was being represented. The following day at the Achievement Award Session, Lynnfield won an award for being a New Chapter. DECA President Gianna Micieli appeared on stage to accept this award for the rest of the group. In the audience, the rest of the group got equally fired up, supporting Lynnfield DECA.
Although Lynnfield DECA will not be represented at the International Career Development Conference taking place in Orlando, Florida on April 27, the team has had so much to feel proud of. ICDC is the ultimate goal for all DECA chapters around the world, and it is something that Lynnfield DECA hopes to achieve next year.
As for the rest of this school year and the start of the next school year, the current DECA members want to expand their membership fivefold. This spring and continuing into next school year, the club is going to amplify its recruiting efforts and continue working on their networking, test-taking, presenting, and overall confidence skills. This way, they can prepare for the upcoming DECA competitions and events, and then share their skills with incoming members.
In all, Lynnfield DECA only hopes to grow from here and take advantage of all the endless opportunities presented to them inside and outside of the club. For anyone wondering if they should join DECA in the future, the answer is yes!