2010-11 Competition Summaries

2010-11 District Career Development Conference

On Sunday and Monday members of Coon Rapids DECA competed at the District 4 Career Development Conference in Plymouth. Among the 27 members that attended, there were 36 state qualifying efforts! Some of the highlights at the conference included 10 top three finishers and 26 top ten finishes. A special congratulation goes out to freshman Katie Kiecker and seniors Asmir Dragonjic, and Lauren Hill, who each qualified for state in 2 events. An additional recognition needs to go out to senior Amy Sumontha and junior Julia Wittrock who both qualified for State in three separate events, and between them earned a total of five first place trophies. A special recognition needs to go to senior Alyssa Gazda who qualified for state in all four of her events.

All the DECA members who attended should be applauded for their excellent showing. DECA would like to thank all of those teachers who helped us prepare for our district competition; you made a big difference.

2010-11 State Career Development Conference

On March 6, 7, and 8 at the DECA State Career Development Conference in Minneapolis, Coon Rapids DECA had an excellent showing. Some of the highlights of the State DECA Conference included an 8^th place finish for Amy Sumontha, and the team of Tarren Hovorka, MoneCarlo Artis, Joe Gill, and Eric Christiansen; two 4^th place individual finishes for Amy Sumontha and Alyssa Gazda; a 3^rd place finish for MoneCarlo Artis in public speaking; a 2nd place finish for Julia Wittrock in professional sales; and a 1^st place team finish for the team of Alyssa Gazda and Julia Wittrock in Buying and Merchandising Management. Overall, Coon Rapids DECA had 20 state finalists in their individual or team events.

Two of the major highlights of the conference were when Amy Sumontha and Alyssa Gazda were named Coon Rapids High School’s Outstanding DECA Members of the Year. Another highlight was when Alyssa Gazda and Julia Wittrock were awarded the Minnesota DECA’s Speakers Bureau Award, for their numerous presentations promoting marketing education and DECA in our school and community.

In addition to all the top finishes, recognitions, and awards Julia Wittrock and Alyssa Gazda qualified to compete this spring at the International Career Development Competition in Orlando, Florida. At this conference they will be competing with over 16,000 other marketing competitors from around the world in an extremely competitive international field.

2011 International Career Development Conference Orlando, Florida

Alyssa Gazda: Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making Event, Certificate of Excellence

Julia Wittrock: Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making Event, Certificate of Excellence

Coon Rapids sent two of our DECA members to compete at the International DECA Career Development Conference in Orlando, Florida. This four day competition had over 16,000 DECA members from around the world in attendance. Alyssa Gazda and Julia Wittrock all did a fantastic job at the conference. Mr. Bodenburg would like to congratulate Alyssa and Julia for their tremendous efforts at the ICDC. He would also like to congratulate every DECA member at Coon Rapids High School for a wonderful year of competition. Good job DECA!