Thirteen Wenatchee High School DECA students qualified for International competition at the State Career Development Conference held on March 6-8 in Bellevue. More than 3,600 high schoolers from all over Washington were in attendance as WHS earned ninth place overall.

Partners junior Miles Letts-Brandt and junior Wallace O’Donnell won first place in Business Law and Ethics. Partners senior Max Schneider and senior Kris Garrett took second in Travel and Tourism. Senior Erika Drollinger claimed second in Restaurant and Food Service Management. Partners Drollinger and junior Kori Martin placed fifth in Entrepreneurship Promotion Project. Senior Jacob Busse took fifth in Automotive Services.

Partners sophomore Olesya Plukchi and sophomore Edan Patterson claimed sixth in Hospitality Services. Senior Catherine Ross placed sixth in Human Resource Management. Sophomore Austin Boese took sixth in Advertising Campaign. Freshman Vivian Noyd claimed sixth in Quick Service Restaurant Management.

Senior Carie Graves will also be attending International Competition as a Washington DECA State Officer, as well as senior Katie Jagla who qualified through the School Based Enterprise competitive event.

Additional WHS students who placed at State competition are: Martin (10th in Apparel and Accessories Marketing), freshman Drew Pomeroy (12th in Principles of Finance), Jagla (13th in Hotel and Lodging), Graves (13th in Retail Merchandising), senior Abel Sixto (14th in Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling), junior Alex Haugan (15th in Advertising Campaign), and senior Nikara Morgan (15th in Food Marketing).

“Outside the numbers, the program’s quality continues to improve and Wenatchee has distinguished itself among the top state DECA schools,” said O’Donnell. “As a whole, I feel like this was an amazing year for our program and I am excited to see the program continue to evolve and excel in competition at this year’s International competition.”

Matthew Pakinas is the adviser for DECA. The International Career Development Conference will be held on May 2-9 in Atlanta.