West Bloomfield DECA Earns 1st Place Internationally For 2nd Year

West Bloomfield Township, MI – April 20-25, 2018. A record number of 45 Students from the West Bloomfield High School (WBHS) DECA chapter traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, to attend the annual DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC). A total of 14 WBHS students were recognized as being in the Top 20 for their competition area. The WBHS Virtual Sports Team of Matthew Ladouceur and Brian Bembas won 1st place in their competition for the second year in a row.

Every year, DECA students from all over the world gather at the ICDC to compete in different business competitions. Students who attend ICDC are viewed as the “best of the best” in their category. This conference marks the end of DECA, and WBHS students work year-round to compete at this level.

This year’s conference brought over 19,000 top high school marketing students and advisors from all 50 states, U. S. Territories, and nine foreign countries to compete in 36 different events. Students prepare year-round for events that include concentrations in hospitality, law, marketing or finance.

On Friday, WBHS DECA members arrived in Atlanta, Georgia at the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel. That evening the group attend an Atlanta Braves game at SunTrust Park. The following morning (Saturday), students went to Six Flags for the day. Saturday evening the Grand Opening Ceremony was held featuring a performance by Billy Gilman and a keynote address by fashion designer, Joseph Abboud.

On Sunday, students attend a competition briefing in their respective categories. At this briefing, each competitor was issued a presentation time slot. Following the briefing, students had time to practice their presentations or simulations before heading to a group dinner and games at Game X.

Monday, students competed and had time to explore The World of Coca-Cola, Georgia Aquarium and The College Football Hall of Fame. Later that evening, Andy Grammer performed a private concert at Mercedes Benz Stadium for all participants.

The conference concluded with a grand awards ceremony on Tuesday night where students were recognized for outstanding performance in online testing, written research reports, oral presentations and virtual business online simulation.

On Wednesday, the West Bloomfield DECA group went on a tour of CNN Studios before flying home.

We are very proud to acknowledge the ICDC qualifiers and winners (listed below) and their categories during this conference.

Qualified participants:
Julia Abramson, (12), Community Service Project
Jenna Anderson (10), Advertising Campaign

Brian Bembas, (12), Virtual Business Challenge Sports

Sydney Bruce, (12), Business Services Operations
Jack Budde, (12), Sports and Entertainment Operations Research
Josh Carlin, (12), Virtual Business Challenge Hotel
Jake Cohen, (12), Virtual Business Challenge Fashion
Zachary Crawford (11), Hospitality and Travel Operations Research
Pratham Dhanjal (12), Virtual Business Challenge Accounting
Erin Dickinson, (12), Independent Business Plan
Kyle Feldman (12), Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
Ari Felhandler, (12), Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
Vietress Feller, (12), Business Services Operations
Danielle Fink, (12), Business Services Operations
Lauren Gagnon, (12), Business Services Operations
Collin Goan, (12), Franchise Business Plan
Zachary Goldman, (12), Business Growth Plan
Michelle Grigorov, (11), Independent Business Plan
Emily Hamama, (12), Community Service Project
Zachary Isenberg, (12), Finance Operations Research
Grant Jones, (12), Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
Maria Kakos, (12), Hospitality and Travel Personal Selling
Nickon Katibai, (12), Business Growth Plan
Uday Kode (12), Finance Operations Research
Matthew Ladouceur, (12), Virtual Business Challenge Sports
David Martin, (10), Virtual Business Challenge Sports
Rhea Mathias, (12), Sports and Entertainment Marketing Operations Research
Rachel McDowell, (12), Independent Business Plan
Marcus McLaughlin, (12), Creative Marketing Project
Rei Mizuno, (12), Virtual Business Challenge Hotel
Rishabh Parekh, (12), Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
Nina Perry (11), Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
Sundeep Ravella (10), Virtual Business Challenge Hotel
Jay Rubin, (11), International Business Plan
Michelle Rudashevski, (12), Business Operations Research
Samuel Rudin, (10), Virtual Business Challenge Sports
Jacob Saperstein, (12), Finance Operations Research
Andrew Schwartz, (11), International Business Plan
Nicholas Seidel, (12), Sports and Entertainment Marketing Operations Research
Ethan Talampas, (12), Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
Ayushi Uppal, (10), Advertising Campaign
Kapil Vyas, (12), Community Service Project
Benjamin Woolverton, (12), Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
Kasper Zemajtis, (12), Virtual Business Challenge Hotel
Kayla Zrepskey, (12), Sports and Entertainment Operations Research

International Winners:
Brian Bembas (12), Matthew Ladouceur (12) – 1st Place – Virtual Business Challenge Sports

Josh Carlin (12), Kasper Zemajitis (12), Rei Mizuno (12) - 4th Place Virtual Business Challenge Hotel

Sundeep Ravella (10), David Martin (10), Sam Rudin (10) - 6th Place Virtual Business Challenge Sports

Vietress Feller (12), Dani Fink (12), Michelle r (12), Top 20 - Business Operations Services

Sydney Bruce (12), Kayla Zrepskey (12), Lauren Gagnon (12) - Top 10 Business Operations Services

"ICDC was not only an awesome business competition, but also a great opportunity to meet and connect with fellow DECA members from all over the world, while exploring the great city of Atlanta. This experiences is something I will remember for the rest of my life. It was a blast!" – Zachary Crawford

"ICDC was worth all the hard work we had put into it and more." - David Martin

About West Bloomfield High School DECA:
West Bloomfield DECA is an International Competitive Business Organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in four fields of business: marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. The West Bloomfield High School DECA chapter integrates classroom instruction, applies learning, connects to business, and promotes competition in order to prepare the next generation to be academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, and experienced leaders. Students enrolled in any West Bloomfield High School Business class may participate in DECA.
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