2017 District 4 Career Development Conference

Congratulations to Leah Mau, Raffee Wright, and Julia Beczkalo who each took home first place finishes.  A big congratulation goes out to Raffee Wright, Lindsey Koehler, and Leah Mau who qualified for state in all three of their events.  A special recognition goes to Leah Mau who earned a top twenty test score at the conference placed 1st in every event she competed in!

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 Anaheim, California. 

 All the DECA members who attended should be applauded for their excellent showing.  Lastly, Mr. Bodenburg would like to thank all 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!

1^st Row:    Rain Ulen, Ellen Leciejewski, Nicole Dupont, Victoria Jackson, Lindsey Koehler, Bailey Eckberg, Deangela Huddleston, Julia Beczkalo, Leah Mau

2^nd Row:   Blake Bodenburg, Ryan D’Heilly, Travis Hess, Thomas Rupert, Jarred Harvey, Jeffrey Smith, Aaron Bauer, Ryan Kemp, Jason Fairbanks

3^rd Row:  Sarah Abbas, Brynn Nguyen, Ben Fournier, Raffee Wright, Jack Johnson, Luis Rivero, Allie Ulness, Callie Eckert

 On March 19, 20, and 21 at the DECA State Career Development Conference in Minneapolis, Coon Rapids DECA had a wonderful showing. Some of the highlights of the State DECA Conference included 10^th place finishes for Deangela Huddleston and Callie Eckert in Entrepreneurship Promotion Plan, Leah Mau in Financial Literacy, Rain Ulen, Allie Ulness, and Julia Beczkalo in the Learn and Earn Project. A 9^th place finish for Travis Hess in Hard Lines Sales Demonstration. Respective 7^th and 6^th place finishes for the team of Nicole Dupont and Lindsey Koehler in the gold chapter project and Sports and Entertainment Marketing.  Leah Mau took 5^th in her Public Relations project. A 3^rd place finish for Leah Mau in the Financial Consulting event, and Raffee Wright also earned a 3rd place finish in Professional Selling. Overall, Coon Rapids had 16 state finalists in their individual or team events.

 In addition to all the top finishes, the Coon Rapids chapter was acknowledged as one of 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.  Amidst the 2,100 competitors Leah Mau and Julia Beczkalo stood out by earning the top 25 test scores on their comprehensive exams.

 Other highlights of the conference were when Leah Mau and Jack Johnson were named Coon Rapids High School’s Outstanding DECA Members of the Year.  Leah Mau, Jack Johnson, Lindsey Koehler and Nicole Dupont earned the Minnesota DECA Speakers Bureau Awards, for their work this year in speaking in promotion of business and marketing education to their larger community.  In addition to all of this, DECA State Officer and senior Leah Mau also earned the prestigious Dr. Mary Klaurens Scholarship from Minnesota DECA.

 Along with all the student successes, advisor Blake Bodenburg was honored to be named as one of eight Minnesota Secondary DECA Outstanding Advisors at the conference.

 In addition to all the top finishes, recognitions, and awards Leah Mau, Raffee Wright, Lindsey Koehler, Nicole Dupont and the Promotional and Community Service Campaign qualifying members of Ellen Leciejewski, Ryan Kemp, Brynn Nguyen, Julia Beczkalo, Callie Eckert, and Rain Ulen all qualified to attend this spring’s International Career Development Competition in Anaheim, California.  At this conference they will be competing with over 18,000 other marketing competitors from around the world in an extremely competitive international field. 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!

2017 International Conference Attendees Anaheim, California

Leah Mau:                            Financial Consulting, Certificate of Excellence

Raffee Wright:                     Professional Selling, Certificate of Excellence

Lindsey Koehler:                 Gold Chapter, Aspire Academy

Nicole Dupont                     Gold Chapter, Aspire Academy

Ryan Kemp:                         Chapter Community Service/Promotional/Global Entrepreneurship/and Membership Campaigns, Thrive Academy

Callie Eckert:                       Chapter Community Service/Promotional/Global Entrepreneurship/and Membership Campaigns, Thrive Academy

Brynn Nguyen:                    Chapter Community Service/Promotional/Global Entrepreneurship/and Membership Campaigns, Thrive Academy

Rain Ulen:                             Chapter Community Service/Promotional/Global Entrepreneurship/and Membership Campaigns, Elevate Academy

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

Julia Beczkalo:                    Chapter Community Service/Promotional/Global Entrepreneurship/and Membership Campaigns, Elevate Academy