Sixty-four students at Burlington High School participated in the Massachusetts DECA State Career Development Conference (SCDC), a co-curricular organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and universities around the world. The competition was held from March 10 to 12.
The event consisted of business-related role-plays, both individual and group, projects, and papers. For students to compete, they had to place in the top five at our district competition held in December.
A list of contestants can be found below:
Pari Afshar, Mason Alongi, Siddharth Bagmar, Tyler Basile, Scott Bottiglio, Isaiah Bunten, Tyler Callahan, Katie Carney, Kyle Coluci, Nick Cote, Ryan Cunningham, Will Curtin, Michael Damato, Lexy Drossos, Rebecca Ferguson, Thomas Gallagher, Nicolette Giogas, Brendan Gray, Patrick Gray, CJ Hacker, Alex Healy, Connor Herrera, Cassandra Herrera, Meriam Hmina, Brooke Hovasse, Cecelia Imbimbo, Willam Jappe, Cole Jennings, Anna Johnson, Jessica Joseph, Ryan Kane, Kaustubh Kislay, Dominick Lamoretti, Elena Latsis, Shane Mahoney, Kara Martin, Alyssa Matarazzo, Alex Murray, Emma Naddaff, Megan Ohol, Nicholas Ovesen, Vivaan Pandey, Sahil Patel, Priya Patel, Andrew Perl, William Preston, Nathan Previte, Matt Pupa, Josh Pupa, Ali Restivo, Ava Restivo, Grace Seaman, Matthew Shannon, Ricky Sheppard, Ayush Shingavi, Dillon Sirois, Dylan Snelson, Michael Stamides, Kiera Stevens, Chris Sullivan, Ella Tedesco, Noora Thotathil, Ryan Vienneau, and Abby Wojtaszek.
The competition, held at both the Hynes Convention Center and Copley Marriott, took place on Friday. Whilst students were waiting for their role-play slots, competitors were allowed to attend Leadership Workshops, where they could learn about finances, leadership archetypes, and overcoming insecurity.
On Saturday, March 12, Burlington competitors excelled in the MA SCDC Award Ceremony:
Trophy winners:
Thomas Gallagher – Elected to be a MA DECA State Officer and won with a Business Operations Research Paper with partner Tyler Basile
Tyler Callahan – Repeated for a second year victory in Entrepreneurship
Connor Herrara, Abby Wojtaszek, Michael Stamides; Andrew Perl – Quiz Bowl Winning Team
William Jappe – Retail Merchandising
Teams of Anna Johnson & Kiera Stevens, Elena Latsis & Jessica Joseph, and Megan Ohol & Priya Patel, won Hospitality Team Decision Making
Ayush Shingavi & Shane Mahoney, won with their Financial Operations Research paper. Ayush also won best cover design and backdrop earning him a record of three trophies for the conference!
Kara Martin – Hotel and Lodging Marketing, and recognized for her outstanding service this past year as a MA DECA State officer! (She is the first one from Burlington).
Nick Cote, Siddarth Bagmar, and Nick Ovesen won School-Based Enterprise Gold Certification for their paper.
Medal recipients:
Scott Bottiglio – Top 10 in Financial Literacy Project
Lexy Drossos – Top 10 in Apparel and Accessories Marketing
Meriam Hmina – Top 10 for Entrepreneurship Independent Business Plan
Emma Naddaff & Cecelia Imbimbo – Top 10 for the Community Service Project (raised $4600 for Jimmy Fund!)
Vivaan Pandey – Top 10 Business Services Marketing
Burlington also earned five positions for DECA’s leadership academy, also happening with the international competition. Emma Naddaff, Vivaan Pandey, Ryan Cunningham, Cassandra Herrera, and Nathan Previte will be representing the club.
DECA’s International Career Development Conference (ICDC) will be held from April 22 to April 27 in Atlanta, Georgia. Hopefully, all trophy winners from the Burlington High chapter will be able to succeed. This is more than double the competitors Burlington has ever brought to ICDC and are so proud of all members and their hard work this year.
Congratulations to all SCDC competitors, and good luck to the ICDC competitors!
Matthew Shannon is a sophomore at Burlington High School.
