On Wed., Feb. 11, DECA hosted their monthly social in the cafeteria. The event allows students to engage in fun activities, meet other DECA members and earn DECA diamonds  –– an award system for extra credit.

“My favorite social by far was the Sept. social, it was pretty great, we did cup stacking and beach ball games,” junior Matthew Serchay said. “I enjoy spending time with friends at socials and the food is also a good bonus.”

Students made Valentine’s Day cards for their family and friends, enjoyed Valentine’s Day-themed cupcakes and participated in a scavenger hunt. In the hunt, students were instructed to find a hidden heart in the cafeteria; the winning prize was a popular squishy, called a Needoh, which was won by freshman Ariana Zvagelsky.

In addition to the Valentine’s Day themed activities, DECA advisors Mr. Albert, Ms. Webster, Ms. Cutler, Mr. Garner and Ms. Spence awarded the students who qualified to compete at DECA States. Students who qualified will be attending the competition in Orlando from March 5-8.

Students were encouraged to earn a spot at States through a variety of different business-themed competitions. Students could be found creating pitch decks of innovation plans, forming a start-up business or taking an 100 question test to qualify. The students that were awarded at the social, won for their 20-page long business paper.

A 20‑page business paper in DECA is a written competition submission used in several of DECA’s written events. It is a research‑based, professionally formatted document that is prepared before the competition and presented to judges.

Seniors Peyton Boothe and Isabella Cox qualified together in the Sports and Entertainment Marketing Operations Research category. Seniors Samantha Dinnis, Alexander Freedman and Kaavya Ramchandran qualified in the Project Management Sales Project category. Seniors Shruthika Bandiathmakur, Mallory Biederman, Natalia Lopez, Courtney Shostack and Ethan Klein qualified in the Project Management and Community Giving Project category.

“After seeing how hard everyone worked on their papers, myself included for my event PMCG, it was so rewarding to celebrate,” Klein said. “My category specifically, Project Management Community Giving, had 30 groups across the state of Florida submit for this category alone and only the top 13 or so make it to Florida DECA’s state competition in Orlando so it’s truly amazing to see all the hard work that we spent months putting together pay off.

Juniors Amanda Bilsky, Carissa Marvel and Allison Ofstein qualified for the Career Development Project category. Seniors Caitlyn Acosta, Kevin Chen and Aarush Sutaria qualified in the Project Management Community Awareness category. Seniors Lucas Felipe, Brian Listopad, Miles Sacks, Logan Weitzner, Madden Fox and Alexander Spadaccini qualified in the International Business Plan category.

Senior Bradley Hau qualified for the Franchise Business Plan category. Junior Jay Ye qualified for the Prepared Event category. Seniors Julia Cristiano and Gianni Waca and juniors Connie Chao and Emily Cichowicz qualified for the Business Operations Research category. Finally, sophomores Zachary Levick and Noah Ramlogan Lee qualified for the Entrepreneurship Business Growth Plan category.

To celebrate their efforts, qualifying students were awarded glass trophies and medals. Now, they are preparing for States, where they will compete against other Florida DECA students in the hopes of advancing to the next level.