Arrowhead’s DECA attended the 2022 International Career Development Conference in Atlanta, GA, from April 22 through the 25th. More than 20,000 high school students, teacher-advisors, business professionals and alumni gathered for the DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) is the culmination of the DECA year.

Twenty two Arrowhead students qualified for ICDC through district and state levels. These students spent three days in the competition presenting their project, case study or event to a judge to demonstrate their marketing, management and entrepreneurship knowledge. 

At ICDC, Arrowhead’s DECA Chapter was recognized as one of the top twenty chapters in the world.

Alan Whitmoyer, a junior, says, “I was in automotive services marketing, that is more of an impromptu event. I was given a business problem based on our event. Then you have ten minutes to create a solution, and then you present for 10 minutes. The judge grades you based off  key performance indicators (KPI). I also took a marketing test to show my marketing knowledge.”

Competitive events for DECA include Business Management, Administration, Hospitality, Tourism, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Finance and Personal Finance Literacy.

Kyle Status, a senior, and President of Student Senate, earned a $2,000 scholarship from the Marriott Foundation. 

Whitemoyer said, “Everyone who qualifies for state goes to ICDC where all contestants either had a project, case study or event. All contestants are in a specific event with two kinds of marketing and business projects where people present a start of a business, presenting it to a judge. Case studies are called role plays, it’s also called business role play.”

The senior members Staus and Cara Wellentin alongside junior member Owen Ritter made the SBE (Small Business Enterprise) finals, taking place in the top 20 out of more than 200 participants from throughout the world.

Marijke de Vries, a junior member of DECA, said, “I learnt more in real life experiences than I would have in any other business class. It was a very educational opportunity to have done, going into college.”