16 North High Students Advance to State in DECA

A record number of students placed in the top ten of their events at the sectional DECA competition last month.

DECA is an organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. On Jan. 27, 16 North High students competed with 700 students in the region at the competition in St. Charles.

The following 16 students will advance to the state DECA competition in Decatur in March:

Adam Brayne, Tyler Dibble, Brendan Johnson, Murtaza Kapasi, Christian Klemp, Praveen Kopparapu, Mariya Kovalchuk, Brian Lemke, Elizabeth Meier, Suzana Petkova, Cloe Pooler, Aaron Pryor, Xavier Schneider, Paige Schober, Olivia Snell and Braden Woods

According to a district release, "DECA competitions include timed decision-making challenges, including individual and team events. For example, a small group may be given a product to market and the students must develop a promotional plan and make a presentation to judges."

“DECA is a unique organization in that it allows students to take the business and marketing concepts we teach in the classroom, and apply them to real-world situations,” said DECA Sponsor and Business Teacher Jan Jacobson in a district release. “During the competitions, our students demonstrated a high level of knowledge that will benefit them in their future careers.”