Last Monday, our schools DECA team went and attended the DECA Fall Leadership Conference, the first of two conferences for the program. This team, headed by their advisor Mrs. Daley, and their president Maggie Dick, led their team a successful showing at the event. The conference split the students from across North Dakota into two categories of returning members and new members. They competed in a series of marketing situations that tested their skills in communication, sales, and role playing. The Horace team saw massive success across the board with 8 members medaling at the fall leadership conference. The new members medaling includes Piper Spiekermeier, Mercy Johnson, Ella Schroeder, Justin Ratliff, and Mike Siffoi. The returning members that medaled include Griffin Terras, Bryton VanVleet, and Maggie Dick. Horace DECA members excelled at the testing portion with Carly Bleth, Maggie Dick, and Griffin Terras all scoring in the top 10 test scores.

I got the chance to interview DECA president Maggie Dick. Here are some of her favorite highlights as well as her thoughts on the Horace Team’s performance, “I’m very happy about how I placed, it was a good conference. Not only that, but our team did really well, and everyone showed up and competed. We didn’t have any slackers who were just there to skip school, and I think that in itself is a win. One of my favorite parts was the kahoot, where they brought in a guest speaker from NDSU. Also, there was free breakfast, which I think is pretty cool.”

I also was able to interview Vice President of social media Griffin Terras. When asked about some highlights of the tournaments here’s what he had to say, “I feel very good about how I performed at the conference. I was the first one finish prep for my role play, and I felt that my performance was very natural and honest, and I think I did well. Overall, the tour conference was quite enjoyable, would recommend.”