DECA members reap rewards at States

The Caribou DECA Club recently returned from the statewide business and marketing competition in Portland with their arms full of awards. All participants placed, with five students taking first-place honors and one placing third.
Earning recognition were: Madison Doody and Bria Judd, who took first place in hospitality services management; Dustin Bouchard and Colby Holdsworth, first place, travel and tourism management; Ricky Perry, first place, restaurant and food services management; and Devin Martin, third place, human resource management.
DECA is an organization that enhances the co-curricular education of students with interests in business, marketing, management and entrepreneurship. Club participation helps students develop skills and competence for marketing careers, build self-esteem, experience leadership and practice community service.
According to Reed Nonken, DECA adviser and business and marketing instructor at the Caribou Regional Technology Center, this club not only affords students an opportunity to participate in state and national competitions, but to gain valuable experiences in real-life marketing-related activities. In addition, the national competition gives the students the opportunity to compete along with over 15,000 other students from across the world in business and marketing elements.
“The strong performance of our students is representative of abilities of our future leaders and shows the strength of our program here at Caribou Technology Center,” Nonken said. “These young adults are getting the opportunity to show that they can take real-world issues confronting today’s businesses and come up with solutions that will really work.”
The five students placing first have now earned the opportunity to compete at nationals in Orlando this year and are practicing hard while they try to raise the funds to make the trip. Each student will need to raise roughly $2,000 each for the event.
“It’s such a great experience for me as an educator and former business leader to see these young adults work so hard at these events,” Nonken continued. “It is also amazing to feel the energy of 15,000 high school students who are excited about business, all together at the international convention. It is such a great experience for our students from the County — something many of them have never experienced.”
Anyone interested in donating or assisting the students in their endeavor to compete at the national level may contact the CRTC at 493-4270.