HHS Business Club Sends 13 Students to ICDC

This year, Harrison High School DECA sent a record breaking thirteen students to compete at the DECA International Career Development Conference, which was held in Atlanta, Georgia. ICDC is the final and highest level of DECA competition, with over 17,000 students from the US, Canada, and several other nations competing in the fields of marketing, finance, business management, entrepreneurship, and hospitality and tourism.

A total of thirteen students represented both Harrison High School and New York at DECA ICDC. Their names and competitive events are listed below:

Matthew Schwartz - Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making

Matthew Griff - Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making

Kaitlyn Fiery - Sports and Entertainment Marketing Series

David Griff - Principles of Marketing

Joseph Tiburzi - Community Service Project

Rachel Schmaier - Community Service Project

Michael Baldino - Public Relations Project

Olivia Naioti - Public Relations Project

Zack Greif - Personal Financial Literacy

Brandon Lum - Principles of Finance

Olivia Perini - Financial Literacy Promotion Plan

Alex Glaser - Financial Literacy Promotion Plan

Maria DiRusso - Financial Literacy Promotion Plan

The students competed in a variety of competitive events, with either a written business plan component or test, with all required to present their ideas to judges. The Harrison students impressed with their remarkable performance and creative business ideas to complex situations. The team of Senior Matthew Schwartz and Junior Matthew Griff were only the second students to qualify twice from Harrison. This year also marked the first time students writing manuals qualified for ICDC and the first time Harrison had female students qualify.

Harrison students enjoyed the impressive opening session, award sessions, and concert by singer Andy Grammer, all held in the beautiful Mercedes-Benz Dome, home of the Atlanta Falcons football team. DECA created an impressive display for students in a visually stunning building.

The group, led by President Matthew Schwartz, Vice-President Matthew Griff and advisors Joseph Santo and Deirdre McQuillan, reached new heights this year. The board continued the ClusterPrep preparation program, developed last year, providing increasing opportunities for practice in individual and group settings. Students met with dedicated mentors on a weekly basis to develop their skills and understanding of business, helping them become successful in their challenging competitions.

In the words of senior Matthew Schwartz, “When I became president of DECA, I set a goal to have Harrison send a record number of students to ICDC. That goal might have been 6 or 7 people. This year, sending 13 students to ICDC shattered my goal. Sending this many people was a testament to the continuing success of the ClusterPrep program, which provides group lessons and individual mentorship to club members. Beyond providing 13 talented students the opportunity to compete against the best of the best in the world at ICDC, we were able to form a strong team at ICDC this year. Everyone was motivated to do their best. We all enjoyed competing and exploring the beautiful city of Atlanta together. While this was a bittersweet moment as my last DECA conference, I was happy to share it with so many great students. It is my hope that the next generation of students in this club continue to be inspired by the success that has been achieved these past few years.”

The students were complementary of their advisors, “We would like to extend a special thank you to Mr. Santo and Ms. McQuillan for taking us on this trip. Their knowledge, experience, help, and level of commitment in advising students about business content and how to act throughout a competition is one of the biggest reasons why Harrison was able to reach such new heights this year,” they said.

Vice-President Matthew Griff adds: “Competing at the International Career Development Conference for the second time was an experience that I will never forget. I had the ability to network with other business students from all around the world and get to know so many other people with similar career goals. This competition has enabled me to apply what I have learned in my business classes at Harrison High School as well as my learning outside of school into a competition based setting. I look forward to continuing DECA into next year, and hopefully have another opportunity to compete at the international level.”

While not competing, students enjoyed taking trips to Buckhead, Six Flags, the Martin Luther King Jr. Museum, Breakout, the High Museum, the Georgia Aquarium, and Emory University.