DECA members will compete in the DECA State Career Development Conference (SCDC) in Indianapolis from March 9 to 11. Students who place in the top three places in their events at the SCDC will qualify to compete at the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Atlanta from May 3 to 6.

According to DECA sponsor Laura Cardamon, the students have been preparing for the competition by practicing their presentations and focusing on “performance indicators” that will help them present their business plans effectively. The judges will also evaluate the students by their performance on written tests, so students have been practicing for those tests as well.

“We’ve just been preparing quite a bit,” Cardamon said.

Andrew Dugan and Mark Connors, DECA members and seniors, are participating in the Entrepreneurship Written event at the SCDC. Dugan and Connors said they are hoping to win first place in their event.

“The competition is tough because there are so many kids at DECA State,” Dugan said. “It won’t be easy, but we practiced.”