Front Row:           Alyssa Gazda, Lauren Hill, Rachael Anderson, Jaqui Kedrowski, Morgan Knutson, Rachel Nelson, Angela Wittrock, Julia Wittrock

On March 8, 9, and 10 at the DECA State Career Development Conference in Minneapolis, Coon Rapids DECA had a tremendous showing. Some of the highlights of the State DECA Conference included a 8^th place finish for Corey Langlois; a 5^th place finish for Earl Brtek, Lauren Hill, Morgan Knutson, and Rachael Anderson; a 4^th place finish for Angela Wittrock; 3^rd place finishes for the team of Alyssa Gazda and Julia Wittrock and the team of Angela and Julia Wittrock; a 2^nd place individual finish for Alyssa Gazda, and a first place finish, for the team Rachel Nelson and Angela Wittrock.  Overall, Coon Rapids DECA had 11 state finalists in their individual or team events.

One of the major highlights of the conference was when Angela Wittrock was named the Marketing Student of the Year for the State of Minnesota.  This prestigious honor also awarded Angela a $500 scholarship. In addition to all the top finishes, recognitions, and scholarship money Rachel Nelson, Alyssa Gazda, Julia Wittrock, and Angela Wittrock qualified for the International Career Development Conference in Anaheim, California where they will be competing against the best marketing students from around the world in an extremely competitive international field. 

2009 International Career Development Conference Anaheim, California

Coon Rapids sent four DECA members to compete at the International DECA Career Development Conference in Anaheim, California.  This competition had over 16,000 DECA members from around the world in attendance.  Angela Wittrock, Rachel M. Nelson, Alyssa Gazda, and Julia Wittrock all did a fantastic job in their competition.  The highlight of the competition was when Angela Wittrock placed Top Ten in the nation with her test score.  Angela then followed that up, by receiving a $1,000 National DECA scholarship from Otis Spunkmeyer Cookies.   Mr. Bodenburg would like to congratulate Angela, Rachel, Alyssa, and Julia for their efforts at the conference, and congratulate every DECA member for a wonderful year of competition.   Good Job!