DECA students qualify for national competition in Atlanta

24 Marketing Students from Career Center qualify for DECA Nationals

Pete Eichholz, Anne Hickman and Scott Fuenfhausen, DECA Advisors for Columbia Area Career Center, are proud to announce the results of the DECA State competition that was held on Sunday, March 16, through Tuesday, March 18, at the Lodge of Four Seasons in Lake Ozark, MO.

More than 1,650 students from around the state competed in the three day event including our 43 DECA members from the Battle, Hickman and Rock Bridge chapters. The following students earned a spot to compete at the DECA ICDC (Nationals) in Atlanta, GA in May.

These numbers represent a record year for our DECA program.  

The following DECA students qualified for Nationals:

Leadership Delegates

Tate Dempsey (Battle)

Madison McDonnell (RB)

Hotel & Lodging Management

3^rd place: Larkin Shull (Hickman)

Sports & Entertainment Marketing (individual series)

7^th place: Michelle King (RB)

Principles of Business Management & Administration

1^st place: Loyal Carpenter (Hickman) – State Champion

Principles of Hospitality & Tourism

3^rd place: Kay Frymire (Hickman)

Principles of Finance

3^rd place: Tony Wiemann (Hickman)

4^th place: Alex Parks (RB)

Team Management Events:

Business Law & Ethics

4^th place: Mary Jane O’Connor & Connor Lake (Hickman)

Buying & Merchandising

1^st place: Nate Horvit & Jack Schimpf (RB) – State Champions

2^nd place: Brandi Dye & Cathy Chen (Hickman)

Financial Analysis

6^th place: Connor McCarty & Carson England (RB)

Hospitality Services

5^th place: Sam Hoyt & Aubrey Jaco (Hickman)

Sports & Entertainment (team)

4^th place: Andrew Wooldridge & Matt Eichelmeier (RB)

6^th place: Brady Pfeiffer & Eric Kuse (RB)

Marketing Communications

4^th place: Garrett Mingus & James “Pen” Terry (RB)

Medalist: (but did not qualify for nationals)

Retail Merchandising

Brandi Smith (RB)

Of the students listed above who earned their spot to attend Nationals, 16 students have elected to take their position and compete against the best Marketing Students from around the world. More than 16,000 students will be in attendance at the ICDC in Atlanta.

Wish us luck as we head into the next step of competition. And as always, thanks for your support of our DECA students.