(Photo courtesy Republic High School)

Off the Field: DECA Districts

Editor’s Note: During the run of the COVID-19 crisis, I’ll continue to post feature articles as possible.

While they won’t be able to attend state competition, the DECA team of marketing students at Republic High School finished their season strong at regionals. out of 41 presenters from Republic 23 were finalists and 13 qualified for state. (See the full list of competitors below.)

In addition, Tiger Grounds, the student-run coffee shop at RHS, received Gold Recertification, which is “the highest award for a school-based enterprise in our country,” according to advisor Ronda Middleton.

Ayden O’Connor was a double-winner at districts, finishing second in both the Entrepreneurship Series and District 11 Leadership Delegate categories. He said he’s always had an interest in entrepreneurship.

“Growing up, I was always really interested in starting businesses. Some worked and made good money, others had their run,” he said. “I developed my love for Entrepreneurship because it allows you to express full creativity, and puts you in the pilot seat of your business. I think that I eventually got passionate about it when I joined DECA and enrolled in Marketing I.”

O’Connor, like many of the other competitors, completed a test as part of his competition. But he is most proud of his role play, in which he had ten minutes to come up with an idea to solve a fictional problem, including a fictional scenario to tackle it. His inclusion of Shaquille O’Neal into his fictional scenario was a creative touch that helped him succeed, he said. “The judges love it, and the judges tend to remember the role plays with the most creativity.”

O’Connor does see entrepreneurship in his future. “In the future, I would like to start my own business and do something that will change the world and will make a positive impact,” he said.

Hailey Gold also completed a test and conducted role plays for her category, Quick Serve Restaurant Management. She finished second, also.

“I took a lot of timed practice tests quizzes so that I’d be sure I would have a good pace for the actual test and be able to finish in time. I also did practice role plays and asked my classmates, friends, and family to judge me; I’d give them the same scoresheet the judge would have and would allow myself 10 minutes to prepare, then I’d present to them as if it was a real role play at competition. Taking all practice preparation seriously and treating it like it’s the real test role play really helped me prepare and go into my event with confidence.”

Kohl Brinkhoff and Christian Clark were gold medal winners in the Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making category. Brinkhoff said he believes the confidence he and Clark displayed during their role play was a factor in their success.

“I think what really set us apart was our confidence in what we said. It is difficult to know everything that could possibly be thrown at us, but the confidence and knowledge of how to answer correctly is what sets us apart,” he said.

Full DECA district results for Republic students:

1st Place
Logan Bissey Integrated Marketing Campaign – Product
Kohl Brinkhoff Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making
Christian Clark Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making
Levi Davis Food Marketing Series
Joey Mullins Integrated Marketing Campaign – Product

2nd Place
Tanna Fulks Apparel and Accessories Marketing
Hailey Gold Quick Serve Restaurant Management
Ethan Howard Hospitality & Tourism Business Operations Research
Ayden O’Connor Entrepreneurship Series
Aiden O’Connor District 11 Leadership Delegate

3rd Place
Trevor Porter Buying & Merchandising Business Operations Research
Austin Schiller Sports & Entertainment Business Operations Research
Dallas Wilson Start-up Business Plan

Finalists
Emma Berry Community Giving Project
Matthew Brewer Independent Business Plan
Jenna Browning Community Giving Project
Issac Collyott Restaurant & Food Service Management
Elisabeth Creech Hospitality & Tourism Business Operations Research
Marco Donjuan Apparel and Accessories Marketing
Carter Hale Principles of Marketing
Faith Ingerson Human Resource Management Series
Regan Jennings Travel & Tourism Team Decision Making
Claye White Hospitality & Tourism Professional Selling
Ella Young Travel & Tourism Team Decision Making

State qualifiers in bold.

REPMO DIGEST

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