Five Pottstown DECA Students Headed to Nationals

From left, Pottstown High School students Dylan Maximenko, David Hicks, Kishan Patel, CyeNyla Hall, Jayniana Williams the recent DECA state conference in Hershey.

David Hicks

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottstown School District.

Five Pottstown High School students will be heading to the DECA Nationals in Nashville, Tenn. as a result of their recent performance in Hershey.

Twenty two members of the Pottstown High DECA Club, an association of marketing students under the direction of Co-Advisors Vickie McShea and Kevin Pascal, participated in the DECA State Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Senior David Hicks earned an opportunity to compete at the national event in Nashville Tennessee by placing first in the Entrepreneurship category.

Jayniana Williams

Joining him will be Junior Jayniana Willams, who placed third place in Hospitality and Tourism and Senior Angelica Calel for her Gold Award in the School-Based Enterprise category.

Seniors Alex Olvera and Emily Weber, who placed third in the Project Management Community Giving category, will also be going to nationals.

The Hershey competition involved students taking a 100-question content test and situational role-playing competitions.

Angelica Calel

Some students also participated by doing a written event which consisted of a 15-minute presentation during the conference and a 10-20 page research paper prior to the event on a specified topic.
The top four contestants in individual categories and teams in team events move on to the National competition held in Nashville, Tennessee.

During the test, the students have 60 minutes to complete a 100 question multiple-choice test.

Alex Olvera and Emily Weber 

After they complete their test they are given two role playtimes. The role play acts as an interview.

The student is given a hard copy scenario to prepare for the role-play during this time the students have 10 minutes, for individual events, and 20 minutes for a team event. Throughout the role-play, the judge asks the student a series of questions in relation to the role-play scenario.

At the state conference, Pottstown High School also received a gold level for the Plan of Action. The Plan of Action consists of a multitude of things, including raising a certain amount of money for the charity.

Pottstown Finalists Include:

Name	Place	Category
Angelica Calel	Gold Level	School-Based Enterprise
David Hicks	1st	Entrepreneurship
Jayniana Williams	3rd	Principles of Hospitality of Tourism
Alex Olvera and Emily Weber	3rd	Project Management Community Giving

Award Winners Include:

Name	Award	Category
Dylan Maximenko	High Role play B	Principles of Marketing
Kishian Patel	High Role play B	Entrepreneurship
CyeNyla Hall	High Role play A	Accounting
David Hicks	High Role play A and B	Entrepreneurship
Jayniana Williams	High Role play A and B	Principles of Hospitality and Tourism