Six Central High School marketing students will compete in Anaheim, Ca. next month as top finishers in the annual NJ DECA Career Development Conference. The students and their winning categories are Matt Schwartz, Business Services; Nicholas Tan and Michael O’Connor, Financial Analysis Team; Alexa DiGaetano, Retail Merchandising, and Tania Ryseck and Hajung Yoo, Travel and Tourism Team.

The students will compete against marketing students from all over the world at DECA’s International Career Development Conference, which opens April 29.

In qualifying for international competition, the students advanced through a succession of rounds involving written tests and case studies that presented specific problems. Students had 15 minutes to develop solutions and then present them in the form of role-playing in front of a judge.

A total of 105 CHS marketing students participated in the preliminary competition. In addition to the six going on to Anaheim, four other CHS students finished strong in state competition, held in February in Cherry Hill. They were: Sam LaPosta and Michael Musso, finalists in Marketing Management and Restaurant Food Service, respectively, and Crystal Hixson and Avantika Sirrah, who along with Matt Schwartz and Sam LaPosta, finished in 3rd place as CHS’s Quiz Bowl Team. The Quiz Bowl is a Jeopardy-like competition in which teams of four students compete.
 
An association of high school and college marketing students, DECA offers students the opportunity to learn about careers in business through class work, competition, work experience, internships and community service.
 

Alexa DiGaetano	Nicholas Tan and Michael O’Connor
Tania Ryseck and Hajung Yoo	Matt Schwartz