Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Slinger students compete at DECA State and advance to Internationals

By: Madeline Hoitink, Co Editor-in-Chief
Posted March 16th, 2016

From March 8th to March 10th, eleven Slinger DECA members competed at the DECA State Career Development Conference at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva.  The Slinger students competed among 100 of Wisconsin’s top DECA members at this state event.  Slinger students competed in a wide variety of categories, including Principles of Finance, Principles Hospitality, Apparel and Accessory Marketing, Quick Service, Marketing Management, and Restaurant Marketing.

Several students earned a medal in their categories: Brooke Rahlf in Restaurant Marketing, Mackenzie Zimdars in Apparel and Accessories Marketing, and Abby Tennies in Marketing Management.  Maggie Aumann in Food Marketing and Mikalah Hess in Restaurant Marketing were finalists who individually qualified to represent Wisconsin at the International DECA Conference in Nashville, Tennessee in April.  “It’s a cool experience knowing you and a thousand other kids are part of the same club,” comments Internationals qualifier Maggie Aumann.  “I’m proud of Slinger DECA and all of the hard work that went into our chapter… It takes guts to compete, and Slinger has proven they have them.”  The group of Mikalah Hess, Nick Zogopolos, and Mackenzie Zimdars received 3rd place out of 30 other schools and qualified to compete at the School Based Operations event in Nashville.  They had prepared a detailed presentation about The Rookery.  “DECA State is always my favorite part of high school,” explains Mackenzie Zimdars, “because not only do you bond with your chapter, but you meet other schools, too.”

Congratulations to the international qualifiers and all other Slinger students who competed at DECA state!