Not even TripAdvisor could suggest the one activity that brought over 17,500 competitors to the International DECA competition in Atlanta, Georgia this past week. The website’s top recommendation, a trip to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, was no match against the chance to win a thin sheet of glass.

Let’s start from the beginning. 

Hopping off the plane last Friday afternoon, Mrs. Joanne Sullivan, along with chaperones Mr. Langue and Mr. Sestili, led 33 NA students to the Marriott Marquis, where they would stay in the 47-floor building for five days.

Students roamed the floors as they searched for new friends, getting lost in the tunnels that connected one hotel to the other. 

“On our first day at the Marriott, my friends and I were walking around when we ran into some kids playing Spikeball. It turned out that they are from Bethel Park, so we exchanged social media and met up with them several nights after that for rematches of the game,” senior Ava Hutchinson said.  “I also got to meet people who are going to my future college. It’s a sigh of relief to have some new friends for whenever I get there.”

For competitors who need a moment of relaxation after a long day of traveling, Saturday’s agenda served as the perfect situation for networking with fellow businessmen and women. 

Within the first two hours of various line-waiting, senior Sara Hogan had already chatted with five different states, taking interest in the factuality of their state stereotypes.

“Although the lines at Six Flags were super long, the breaks gave me the opportunity to talk to new people I never would have met if I wasn’t on the trip,” she said. “At any given moment, I could be standing next to a girl from Hawaii or a boy from Washington. Of course, I just had to ask them what stereotypes were true.”

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Kara Mihm

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Suit jackets were slipped on over sunburnt shoulders that night as everyone prepared to arrive at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. A handful of Hershey Kiss pins were supplied to all Pennsylvanian competitors. On the walk to the stadium, pins were swapped with other states and countries as the trading began. The hunt for the perfect lineup on one’s lanyard began.

The opening ceremony, filled with fire torches and fireworks, filled competitors with excitement to compete. Within the next few hours, students finished up their last-minute reviewing before the testing began for the next two days. 

Bright and early on Sunday morning, competitors walked or shuttled back to the Mercedes-Benz to take a written test. The one-hundred-question test counts as one-third of the total score, while the other two-thirds of the overall score is earned through role play. 

During an event role play, a participant is given ten minutes to read and solve the problem to a prompt. If participating in a team event, the duo has twenty minutes to do the same thing. Once the time is up, pencils are dropped and the judging begins. In under five minutes, individual events must wow the judges in order to make it to the final round, while teams receive ten minutes to do so.

In between the two days of testing and role play, students spent their free time exploring the city of Atlanta. Coca-Cola World and the Atlanta Aquarium, teamed with students from around the world as they walked out donning bags filled with merchandise. 

On Monday morning, Mercedes-Benz Stadium was once again filled with chaos as participants hoped to hear their name called in the top twenty of their event. Those that received this honor were immediately escorted to the next round of role play after the ceremony had come to a close.

Later on in the afternoon, North Allegheny’s very own Hannah Shin was declared the first-ever recipient of the International Legendary President Award.

“I am forever grateful to have been selected as the inaugural International Legendary President among DECA presidents throughout this global organization. I poured my all into serving Pennsylvania DECA every single day of my presidency, which was like a full-time job,” Shin said. “As my name was announced for this first-ever award, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed in the best way possible with gratitude and affection for this incredible organization that has transformed my life. I’m excited to come back again and again as a DECA alumna!”

In the final hours of the night, when pin traders began to become desperate, finalists sat on the edge of their seats as they hoped to be called to the stage as a top ten competitor. It was at this moment that their dreams of receiving DECA glass were at arm’s length.

While North Allegheny, produced no glass winners, seven students graced the finalist round at the cutthroat event. If you asked Mrs. Sullivan, the event was everything and more than what she could have hoped for.

“It was a smashing success. I had more than double the competitors than my largest group in previous years,” Sullivan exclaimed. “To name a few things, we had seven students in five events where they were finalists, and Hannah also won president out of 48 states and four countries. I couldn’t be happier.”