DECA Regional Competition
On January 8, 2020, thirty-seven students from High School West competed in the DECA Suffolk County Regional Competition which was hosted at Suffolk Community College in Selden, NY. These students competed against about 1600 students from 26 different Suffolk County high schools. Twenty-three HSW students earned trophies for their performances along with three HSW students receiving an Honorable Mention.
The DECA Regional Competition is a test that scores a person’s factual knowledge. Students are required to dress in business attire and complete a 100 question test in just an hour. They are then scored off the grade and time they complete it. So the higher the score in the least amount of time, the better their results.
Congratulations to everyone who participated. The first place winners were Julia Bloomstein and Brett Leviton. The second place winners were Aryan Patel, Ethan Robertson, and Alexis Rosenthal. And also the honorable mentions are Aman Khanna, Michael Lombardo, and Aaron Rubin.
The top ten in the event category were Matthew Amendola, Roya Barakzai, Sabrina Barakzai, Garret Cincis, Julia D’Alessandro, Kevin Devine, Christian DiGangi, Daniel Guido, Anthony Jean-Baptiste, Ashley Kalb, Andrew Kenny, Krish Malhorta, Mia Nathenas, Mark Palmeri, Nicolette Reale, Sophia Sacchetti, John Tevez, and Kihan Wahabzadah.
Alexis Rosenthal, one of the second place winners, says that DECA is “a great experience, especially once you move up to higher levels like states and internationals with the role play portion of the test.” She also talks more about the other levels of testing, discussing how “in states you get to apply your expertise as if you were a marketing director and get to take on the persona.” Alexis has also gone to internationals in the previous year with the specific category Apparel and Accessories Marketing.”
Ethan Robertson, another one of the second place winner, says “the experience was very fun. We got to take a field trip and dress professionally, while being able to hang out with my peers and win an award for doing well on the test.” He has also been in DECA for several years and has taken part in other exams. Ethan also shares, “I definitely recommend it to anyone who’s interested in business.”
NY DECA is a club that helps students build skills for marketing careers, experience leadership, improve self-esteem, and practice community experience. It is run by Ms. Southard, a business teacher at HSW and HSE.
