Crammed onto the stage, senior Ella Hennig held the hand of senior Maria Hristeva as they awaited their results of their final round for the Integrated Marketing Campaign (Product) event at the DECA state competition in Rosemont. They had been planning for this moment since May of 2025 and were hopeful that their hard work would pay off.“They said fourth, and we were like, ‘OK.’ They said three, and we were like, ‘OK.’ They said two, and we literally started like borderline breaking each other’s hands; we were …  so nervous,” Hennig said. “And then we won, and we were just, like, jaws on the floor.”

From May 5-7, Hennig and Hristeva would become two of Prospect’s 10 students that secured their place at DECA’s national competition in Atlanta, GA, on April 24-29. There were also seven other top 10 state finalists from Prospect.

But to get here, Hennig and Hristeva had to do extensive planning. DECA advisor Chad Froeschle likes to have his competitors that do a prepared event start planning as early as possible. Henning’s event involves being scored on their pitch deck, which is a 20 slideshow that contains the content of their marking campaign, their presentation of the pitch deck, and the sum of Hennig’s and Hristeva’s marketing exams. 

Their presentations must be thoroughly planned, as they are assessed for penalty points, which are small details like including a school’s address or going over 20 slides. They also have to have handouts and posters to go with their presentation. With that in mind, Hennig mentioned how Hristeva and her did a lot of research to ensure that there were no holes in their campaign. 

Hennig said though, that the two never doubted their abilities. 

“We genuinely believed in ourselves, and the whole weekend we were saying, ‘When we win. When we win. We’re gonna win. The presentation’s gonna go great,’” Hennig said. “So we kind of manifested it.”

While Hennig and Hristeva focused more on marketing, senior Claire Zimmermann competed in Financial Team Services Decision Making alongside senior Allison Warnement. Zimmermann and Warnement both completed a similar test to Hennig only theirs was finance focused. They then had two roleplay scenarios where they were given a scenario like explaining income states or financial statements, and Zimmermann and Warnement had 30 minutes to prepare and then had to present their findings to the judges for 15 minutes.

“You never know exactly what situation you’re going to be thrown into,” Warnement said. “You kind of study a broad range of finance [and] accounting things, … so it’s hard to fully prepare.”

All of Zimmermann’s and Warnement’s hard work paid off though when they were announced as the second place winners.

“We were super excited,” Zimmermann said. “We had no idea, but we were super happy to have placed so well.”

Zimmermann will also be going to nationals like Hennig, which is something that Hennig cannot wait to experience for the first time.

“We are just really hoping to do the best we can, [and to] not put any harsh expectations on us,” Hennig said. “[The goal is to] just be secure and confident within our presentation and our ideas because we have just worked so hard.”

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