Middlesex Students Win 10 Medals at DECA National Competition

Middlesex Community College students Brett Rich, of Billerica, Dana Bupphaves, of Pepperell, Kayla Caffrey, of Carlisle, Bryan Carlson, of Acton, and Dimitar Matrapazov, of Waltham, won a total of 10 awards at the Collegiate Division of DECA National Competition and International Career Development Conference held recently in Orlando, Fla.

Led by Vikram Sharma, Accounting Professor and faculty advisor for the Finance and Accounting Club, the team of five students competed against students from four-year universities and community colleges from the U.S. and Canada.

Rich and Bupphaves each won two medals in the Financial Statement Analysis category; Caffrey and Carlson each won two medals in the Advertising Campaign category and earned one medal each in the Entrepreneurship category; and Matrapazov was a round one participant in the Accounting category.

This recent national success follows wins earlier in the year at the DECA Regional Competition at Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island, where a team of nine MCC students led by Professor Rob Kaulfuss and Sharma won eight medals.

The DECA Club at Middlesex began in 2013 by Judy Hogan, Dean of Business, and Deborah Walsh, Assistant Dean of Business. For more information about MCC’s DECA Club, contact Deborah Walsh at walshd@middlesex.mass.edu.

Founded in 1946, DECA programs and activities help prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. The Collegiate Division of DECA includes more than 15,000 members in 275 colleges and universities. To learn more, visit www.deca.org.

Middlesex Community College meets the evolving educational, civic and workforce needs of our local and global communities. As one of the largest, most comprehensive community colleges in the state, we educate more than 13,000 students annually on our campuses in Bedford and Lowell, and online. MCC offers more than 75 degree and certificate programs, plus hundreds of noncredit courses. At Middlesex, everyone teaches, everyone learns.

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Caption (MCC_DECA_Nationals_2015.jpg): Middlesex Community College students (left to right) Brett Rich, of Billerica, Dana Bupphaves, of Pepperell, Bryan Carlson, of Acton, Kayla Caffrey, of Carlisle, and Dimitar Matrapazov, of Waltham, led by Professor Vikram Sharma, faculty advisor of the Finance and Accounting Club, won a total of 10 awards at the Collegiate Division of DECA National competition and International Career Development Conference held recently in Orlando, Fla.