Sixteen Bedford High School students participated in the Massachusetts State DECA competition at Hynes Convention Center & Marriott Copley on March 7-9.
DECA is a competitive worldwide student business club whose mission is to prepare “emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.” Through classroom and extra-curricular education, students learn, prepare, and compete in competitions at the local, regional, state, and international levels.
According to BHS Business Teacher and DECA Advisor Justine Flora, “BHS was represented with class and professionalism all around.”
BHS juniors Maya Singh and Diya Singh will advance to the international competition in California next month after winning the Quiz Bowl event. This victory represents the first time a Bedford team has won the Quiz Bowl competition.
DECA has more than 250,000 high school members worldwide across nearly 4,000 local chapters. Massachusetts has one of the largest memberships with 8,325 student members, making the regional and statewide events particularly competitive.
Maya Singh and Diya Singh beat out 66 other teams this year to win and qualify for the international competition in the Quiz Bowl.
Along with Quiz Bowl, students compete in three broad categories: role-plays and case studies, prepared events, and online simulations across four career clusters: marketing, finance, hospitality, and management, as well as entrepreneurship and personal financial literacy.
The 16 students qualified for the state level over hundreds of students at a regional tournament in the winter. In addition to Maya Singh and Diya Singh the BHS state qualifiers included:
- Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making: John Campos and Joseph Capone
- Career Development Project: Michelle Wong
- Franchise Business Plan: Melanie Perales and Finley Halloran
- Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling Event: Raaga Vakamalla
- Independent Business Plan: Joseph Patterson, Anthony O’Brien, and Paul Caruso
- Integrated Marketing Campaign Event: Makayla Noun and Levana Lin
- Integrated Marketing Campaign Product: Klara Stevens and Grace Holland
- Quick Service Restaurant Management: Zachary Shen
Flora thanked the BHS administration, Superintendent Cliff Chuang, the Bedford School Committee, Bedford Rotary, and Pepe’s of Burlington for helping to support the BHS DECA team’s weekend trip to Boston for the state competition.
Loading ...
