2016 District 4 Career Development Conference 

 

At the start of January, members of Coon Rapids DECA competed at the MN District 4 Career Development Conference in Plymouth.  Among the 53 DECA members that attended, there were 32 students that qualified for state in at least one event!  Some of the highlights at the conference included 44 overall finalists and 11 first, second, and third place finishers for Coon Rapids High School.  Congratulations to Mark Daml, Leah Mau, Raffee Wright, and Gabe Hill who each took home first place finishes.  A special congratulation goes out to Alayna Baetke and Leah Mau who qualified for state in all three of their events.

 

These students will be competing in March at the DECA Minnesota State Career Development conference, for the right to represent Minnesota DECA at the International Career Development Conference this April in Nashville, Tennessee.    All the DECA members who attended should be applauded for their excellent showing.  Lastly, Mr. Bodenburg would like to thank the DECA members who attended the District 4 conference for their respectful and professional behavior at the conference; you truly represented yourselves with class and dignity. Thank you and congratulations!

 

2016 Minnesota State Career Development Conference

 

1st Row:  James Walker, Raffee Wright, Alex Brovick, Emerson Badio, Andrew Bialon, Jeff Smith, Trent Bosak, Tom Koch, Devin Higgins

2nd Row: Blake Bodenburg, Kasey Hanson, Marissa York, Gabe Hill, Joe Thoen, William Ray Wellner, Mark Daml, Lindsey Koehler, Allison Bauer, Emily Levercom

3rd Row:  Cha Vue, Nicole Dupont, Nicole Nelson  Leah Mau, Alayna Baetke, Victoria Burge, Peyton Bennett, Ellen Leciejewski, Kailley Olson

 

On March 6, 7, and 8 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 Tom Koch finishing 10th in Professional Selling. A 9th place finish for Ellen Leciejewski in Hospitality and Tourism. 6th place finishes, respectively, for Mark Daml and Alayna Baetke Food Marketing and Professional Selling.  5th place finishes for Leah Mau in Financial Consulting, Victoria Burge in Soft Lines Sales, and Lindsey Koehler and Nicole Dupont in Sports Marketing.  Earning a 3rd place finish was Marissa York in Human Resource Management.  Earning a 2nd place finishes were Alayna Baetke in Restaurant and Food Service Management, Andrew Bialon in Business Services Marketing, and Leah Mau General Lines Sales. Overall, Coon Rapids had 32 state finalists in their individual or team events.

 

Coon Rapids also had five chapter projects in the areas of Learn and Earn, Entrepreneurship Promotion, Financial Literacy Promotion, Public Relations, and the Gold Chapter Project. All five projects earned top 12 finishes at the state conference. In addition to all the top finishes, the Coon Rapids chapter was acknowledged as one of only two chapters in the state to earn the distinct Achievement Level on all four national DECA chapter campaigns.  The campaigns include the Membership Campaign, the Global Entrepreneurship Campaign, the Promotional Campaign, and the Community Service Campaign.

 

Other highlights of the conference were when Emerson Badio and Alayna Baetke were named Coon Rapids High School’s Outstanding DECA Members of the Year.  Alayna Baetke, Allison Bauer, Emerson Badio, Emily Levercom, Marissa York, Mark Daml, and Peyton Bennett earned the Minnesota DECA Speakers Bureau Award, for their work this year in speaking in promotion of business and marketing education to their larger community.  

 

In addition to all the top finishes, recognitions, and awards Andrew Bialon, Marissa York, Alayna Baetke, Mark Daml, Lindsey Koehler, Nicole Dupont and the Community Service Chapter qualifying members of Leah Mau, Ellen Leciejewski, and Emily Levercom all qualified to compete and attend this spring’s International Career Development Competition in Nashville, Tennessee.  At this conference they will be competing with over 17,000 other marketing competitors from around the world in an extremely competitive international field. 

 

Advisor Blake Bodenburg was also honored to be named as one of eight Minnesota Secondary DECA Outstanding Advisors at the conference.

 

Last but not least, Mr. Bodenburg would like to say thank-you to all the DECA members that competed in the state conference; you represented Coon Rapids and yourselves with dignity and class.  Congratulations to all!

 

2016 International Conference Attendees Nashville, Tennessee

 

Mark Daml:                 Food Marketing Series, Certificate of Excellence

Andrew Bialon:           Business Services Marketing Series, Finalist Top 20, 11th Place, Certificate of Excellence

Marissa York:              Human Resource Management Series

Alayna Baetke             Restaurant and Food Service Management Series, Certificate of Excellence

Lindsey Koehler:         Sports Marketing Team Decision Making Event

Nicole Dupont:             Sports Marketing Team Decision Making Event

Ellen Leciejewski:        Chapter Community Service/Promotional/Global Entrepreneurship/and Membership Campaigns, Thrive Academy

Emily Levercom:         Chapter Community Service/Promotional/Global Entrepreneurship/and Membership Campaigns, Thrive Academy

Leah Mau:                   Chapter Community Service/Promotional/Global Entrepreneurship/and Membership Campaigns, Thrive Academy