Last month, NA DECA members made the annual trip to Hershey for the state tournament. After stopping at Hershey’s Chocolate World to relax and have fun upon arrival, students quickly zoned in and got into business mode. The three-day event featured various fun and enriching activities, like the traditional DECA dances and insightful workshops on top of the actual competitions in individual, team, and written events. 

Many students attended states for the first time and had a positive experience.

“The PA DECA State Conference was an enlightening experience,” junior Chase Davidson said. “I was constantly surrounded by people who all had the same goal in mind: to take a leap into the business world.”

This year, North Allegheny surpassed all years prior with an astonishing 88 students attending the February 19-21 conference.

“This was the largest number of participants we’ve ever had and the largest number of international competition qualifiers ever,” said adviser Mrs. Sullivan. 

Mrs. Sullivan was in for a big surprise on the evening of the opening ceremony, as she was named PA DECA adviser of the year, a well-deserved honor for the long-time business teacher. Chants of “Sully! Sully! Sully!” erupted from the NA students as she made her way on stage in front of thousands of DECA members from all across Pennsylvania to accept her plaque and share her thoughts and sentiments.  

“Sully’s speech when she won adviser of the year was beyond moving,” senior Jacob Pan said.

For the competition, most students prepared by studying and attending study sessions for their written tests and role plays, while written event competitors got advice from former winners and professionals on their presentations, all in hopes of qualifying for the lucrative ICDC (International Career Development Conference) held this year in Nashville, TN. The competition was fierce, as most individual events averaged at least 35 students, while some written events saw as many as 60 teams with only the top four teams qualifying.

In the end, it was a very successful trip for NA, with 17 students qualifying to compete at ICDC with an additional seven students as finalists, in the event that one of the qualifiers chooses not to attend. 

Amanda Hulver, Tejal Dahake, Anchey Peng, Saif Ali, Josh Zhou, Akshana Dassanaike, and Colin Devenney all won their respective team or individual events, while Virginia Lucas, Hannah Shin, Sophie Lu, Vedha Avali, Katherine Gao, Ana Key, Jacob Pan, Derek Qu, and Jiany Zhou qualified in the top four in their individual, team, or written events. 

Finalists included Raashmitha Bayyana and the teams of Michelle Hwang and Sreeja Yellapragada, Leela Pinnamaraju and Divya Ramkumar, and Dhivya Raju and Stefanie Cwalina. 

“We were shocked when we got fourth place after trying so hard and practicing and working on our PowerPoint for so long,” Jacob Pan said about his written team event with partners Derek Qu and Jiany Zhou. “Our hard work paid off.”

Unfortunately for many qualifiers, they face a tough decision between attending Prom or ICDC held April 29-May 2.

“This year, there is a conflict with Prom. and I am losing eight seniors who could be competing at the international conference, which is a disappointment,” Sullivan said.

Senior Katherine Gao is one of many faced with the dilemma.

“I’m overjoyed that I qualified and wish I could compete, but sadly it is the same weekend as Prom and right before AP tests, so it’s definitely a huge opportunity that I missed,” Gao said. 

The event ran smoothly, thanks to the hard work and countless hours spent planning by the PA DECA state officer team, which included District 2 representative and NA’s own Peter Van Osdol. Next year, Van Osdol will pass the position on to newly inducted representative Chase Davidson. 

“I cannot wait to work with my fellow classmates and peers to help DECA reach its fullest potential,” Davidson said. 

In the meantime, for Van Osdol and the ICDC qualifiers, it’s back to business as usual.