CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou students did exceptionally well at the State Competition for DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) recently.
All nine teams placed, and six teams came away with a first-place award.
DECA winners were:
• Delaney Williams and Samantha Camy, first place, sports and entertainment;
• Breen Blackstone and Matthew Milliard, first place, business law and ethics;
• Chaya Karunarsiri and Allissa Irving, first place, buying and merchandising;
• Cody Herbert and Kameron Manter, first place, travel and tourism;
• Madison Doody and Danielle Chase, first place, hospitality services;
• Lucas Kinney, first place, marketing management;
• Nick Jackson, second place, accounting applications;
• Delaney Williams, Samantha Camy and Madison Doody, second place, sports and entertainment development plan; and
• Dustin Bouchard and Colby Holdsworth, third place, travel and tourism.
Due to a variety of circumstances, none of the Caribou students will be able to attend Nationals this year.
Delaney Williams was again part of a first-place team this year, having competed last year at Nationals, and even the veteran State champion is still learning through the educational program.
“Each partner has different strengths and weaknesses, so you learn to work with them,” Williams said, adding she likes working with different team members because “when you go into the business world when you’re older, you know how to work with all different kinds of people.”
It was Madison Doody’s first time competing with DECA and her first year in Reed Nonken’s marketing education course at the Caribou Regional Technology Center. While she’s learning about business, which she expected, the way she’s learning about it is unexpected.
“I didn’t think it would be more like a real world scenario — and it is,” she said with a laugh. “I thought it would just be learning all these big words in class, but I know it really helps put it into perspective what I’m going to be doing if I follow this path.”
Of course, students have learned some big words — on the day of they were interviewed for this story they’d just added “rapport” to their vocabulary.
“In truth, these students all worked really hard and they deserve the credit they get,” said Nonken.
