25 area students headed to DECA conference
A total of 25 South Aiken High School DECA students are headed to an international conference in April after qualifying at a recent state competition in Charleston.
Nine students with the marketing organization took first place at the state, either individually or with teammates.
The first-place winners were Lucy Burckhalter, Jordan Redd and Casey Plunkett, community service project; Brooke Preston and Ashley Cady, public relations; Jessica McDaniel, entrepreneurship; Melody Turner and Amy He, international business plan; and Emery Polochko, business operations research.
Cady also was elected DECA state vice president of media relations, while Burckhalter was selected as vice president of special projects. Both are rising seniors.
Since joining DECA as a sophomore, "It has been a great experience," said Cady. "It has made me more confident about speaking in front of people, and being a DECA officer has helped with leadership skills."
For their project, Cady and Preston joined other students in working with Helping Hands, the residential facility for kids who have been removed from their homes. They promoted fundraising efforts for new playground equipment and assisted with plans for a Christmas party at the agency.
"It really impacted me interacting with the children," Cady said. "It made me want to help out even more."
It's the second straight year South Aiken has had two dozen students or more qualify for nationals by finishing in the top three in their categories.
"I attribute that to a really good group of students," said teacher/adviser Rob Lovejoy. "We also get great support from the administration and that helps our students achieve really high levels."
After 11 years at South Aiken, Lovejoy continues to enjoy watching his students grow as young people through the DECA experience of real-world projects and activities.
"People from all over the world will be at the international conference, from Canada, Mexico, Guam, Germany and more," Lovejoy said. "There were 14,000 people there last year. Even for those students who don't go into business, what they experience at the competitions will get them ready for any career."
Second-place team finishers were Andrew Chavous and Nikki Burkhart; Ashley Skinner and Nicole Caniglia; and Carrie Crowder and April Royster.
The third-place teams were Hannah Polakowski, Becca Bowser and Iris Borja; Beth Brashears and Mariah Heyward; Cassidy Colvin, Morgan Hudson and Danielle Smith; and Meredith Loftus and Linda Zheng.
Other students finishing fourth, fifth or in the top 10 included Abbie Hamman, Alex Umsted, Lindsey Boothe and Kaitlyn Mikes, Brooke Nicholson, Mary Berchtold, Amy Christenbury, Kaleigh Collins, Jordan Beeler, Eric Danko, Austin Smith, Colin Ray, Beccah Wallace and Andrea Mikes.
Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.