By Diana Leane
Executive In-Depth Editor
Junior Claire Powers had 20 minutes to prove herself at the DECA state competition. After walking into the room she was competing in, she had 10 minutes to read and take notes on her prompt and 10 minutes to present her ideas to the judges.
After finishing, Powers felt confident until she began watching and talking to her competitors. In the end, she placed third.
“I was really excited and I was not expecting it whatsoever,” Powers said.
Students who placed first to fourth qualified for internationals, and overall six Prospect students including Powers qualified. Powers received third place in Business Services Marketing, Austin Sibu placed third in Principles of Management, Kate Ponzi placed second in Principles of Marketing, Jonathan Ampalloor placed fourth in Human Resources Management and the team of Danny Devereux and Adam Koszyk placed third in Financial Analysis.
According to Powers, this is an increase from last year when two students qualified for internationals. These six students will compete at the DECA international competition in April in Orlando, Florida.
Leading up to the competition students prepared for their categories outside of school. Powers met with business ed teacher Cathy Fortuna, one of two DECA advisors, on her own to practice for the competition along with preparing at home with her dad who works in marketing.
Powers prepared for the two role plays’ prompts she would receive the day of the competition through learning key marketing vocabulary and knowledge. Besides the two role plays Powers and the other students completed in their categories, the competing students were tested on their categories and tested on economics.
“People don’t really acknowledge [how] much hard work it is,” Powers said. “Even though I didn’t practice much with Ms. Fortuna, my dad gave me a lot of marketing information to talk about. Without that background information he gave me, I would have no idea what I was doing going into it.”