DECA finalists junior Josh Burns, junior Hannah Greco, senior Adam Farmer, senior Alex Faupel, and senior Alexa Berhorst recently competed in the Internationals competition held in Orlando, Fla. Burns participated in competitions for the first time while the other participants were all experienced atendees. Burns won the Award of Excellence, given out for combination of his test score for DECA and a roll play he performed in front of the judges. The judges were mainly business professionals who specialized in the competitors’ area of competitions.

During competitions, students had the opportunity to participate in specific events that were meant to expand the network by meeting other DECA competitors from all over the world. Countries like Canada, Mexico, Germany, Puerto Rico and Guam sent students to this specific competitions. Overall, there were 15,000 competitors in Orlando, Fla. from all around the world. Along with all of the students, there were many colleges present alongside the DECA store and Otis Cookies representatives, sponsors of DECA, who were giving away free cookies.

“There were no expectations for us to be finalist. We were just glad to be there and went to do our best,” said Burns.