MSUM DECA advances to nationals

Six students to compete in Washington D.C.

On February 25 and 26 the MSUM DECA chapter competed at the Minnesota Collegiate DECA Career Development Conference in Mankato, Minn. After two days of competitive business events, the students came back with awards for their achievements and will advance to the national conference.

All MSUM students were finalists in their events, advancing to the top eight. They presented their business knowledge to professional judges from around the state.

Students are given the option to compete in either semi-impromptu events relating to their area of study in academics, or prepared presentations that the students present in either teams or individually. For impromptu events, students are given a detailed case study a half hour before they present regarding the event topic and use their knowledge to present their ideas and solutions to the mock situation. This role-play format is the same for the prepared events, but students are given competition guidelines months before the competition.

MSUM DECA qualified six members (Gavin Doppler, Business Administration, emphasis in Marketing; Austin Friesen, Business Administration, emphasis in International Studies; Whitney Jensen, Business Administration, emphasis in Marketing; Tyler Buresh, Economics, minor in Communications; Brandon Stacken, Accounting; and Lauren Hooker, Business Administration, emphasis in Management) to compete in the National Career Development Conference in Washington D.C. Students qualify for the National Conference by placing in the top three in their category.

“We did a lot of practice before the competition utilizing different presentation strategies and developing the “think on your feet” skill that is gained through real-world experiences. Also, we often have business professionals from the Fargo-Moorhead community speak at our meetings and work with our students to develop these skills for competition,” Gavin Doppler said.

Kaylee Brandt received first place in Employment Application (state-only event)
Austin Friesen received second place in Human Resource Management
Sydney Beyer received second place in Employment Application (state-only event)
Ty Buresh received third place in Corporate Finance, Banking Financial Services
Whitney Jensen received third place in Sales Management Meeting

Austin Friesen and Gavin Doppler competed in Emerging Technology Marketing Strategies, a new event that automatically qualified them for nationals. Brandon Stacken and Lauren Hooker will be competing in Restaurant and Food Service Management at the national level.

“I believe our chapter was successful because of our student’s natural professional responsibility. Not only does MSUM’s School of Business have an outstanding program that prepares students academically, but it possesses many students that are natural leaders and downright enthusiastic people,” Doppler said.

The National Conference is April 22-27.

“We plan to not only positively represent the MSUM School of Business once again, but to represent Minnesota DECA as a whole,” Doppler said.

DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.

MSUM DECA would like to thank the following people and departments:

  • O.S.A and the S.A.B.C for making this trip possible and supporting a growing and thriving organization from the start.
  • Dean Marsha Weber for supporting the organization and giving them the opportunity to continue to grow and expand the extracurricular exposure of the School of Business.
  • Their advisor, Lori Johnson, who has done a tremendous job helping lead this organization and keeping them prepared.
  • Ben Clapp who made sure the trip to Mankato ran smoothly and successfully.