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Maryland Students Recognized with Top Honors at DECA International Career Development Conference

BALTIMORE – Maryland’s DECA delegation brought home one second place medal along with other top recognitions from the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) and Competition in Atlanta, Georgia, held April 21-24. DECA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) education association with the mission to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.

More than 120 Maryland students and advisors attended the conference, making this Maryland’s largest delegation ever to attend ICDC. The conference brought together more than 20,000 students and advisors from throughout the United States, and other countries including Canada, China, Korea, India, and Mexico. The attendees participated in leadership workshops, campaign rallies, regional meetings, and competitive events.

The highest recognition for the Maryland DECA delegation belonged to one student from Walt Whitman High School who placed second (2nd) in their event. Additionally, other students received silver or blue ribbon medallions for their events.

The following are students, their categories, their awards, and the schools/systems they represented:

Thomas Fratantoni

Quick Service Restaurant Management, 2nd, Walt Whitman High School, Montgomery County

TEAM – Laura Yao and Katie Zhang

Hospitality & Tourism Operations Research, Blue, Richard Montgomery High School, Montgomery County

Grant Owens

Apparel & Accessories Marketing, Silver and Blue, River Hill High School, Howard County

Jermya Williams

Hospitality & Tourism Professional Selling, Silver, The SEED School of Maryland, Baltimore City

Jay Patel

Business Services Marketing, Silver, Glen Burnie High School, Anne Arundel County

Ben Meron

Business Finance, Silver, Walt Whitman High School, Montgomery County

For more information about Career and Technology Education and DECA, please contact Diana Hegmann, State Director, Maryland State Department of Education at 410-767-0536. You can also visit the official DECA Maryland website at www.deca.org.


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