A group of four students from Maud High School will be traveling to Florida at the end of this month to attend the DECA International Career Development Conference and compete at the national level.

Students Victoria Cordray, Avallonis Glave, Abbigayle Bull and Raeyleigh Gensman earned their invitation to the DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Orlando, Fla. April 26-29 by recently placing in State level competition.

The deca.org website explains that DECA, formerly Distributive Education Clubs of America, is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit career and technical student organization that is organized into two student divisions - a High School Division and a Collegiate Division. The organization’s mission is to “prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.” The four components of the organization’s Comprehensive Learning Program are that DECA integrates into classroom instruction, applies learning, connects to business, and promotes competition. DECA prepares the next generation to be academically prepared, community-oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders.

What makes the achievements of the Maud students even more outstanding, Maud DECA Advisor and High School Business teacher Amy Townsing explains that the Maud High School DECA Club was established just last year. Out of the 9 Maud students that competed, 7 place in the top 8 out of the state. Townsing adds that the Maud DECA Club School Based Enterprise (SBE) also qualified at the National Level as Bronze. They are now one of only 10 SBEs in Oklahoma, and the only one that is not a Career Tech school.

A release provided by Townsing states the the four students attending ICDC have been pioneers in the Maud DECA Club. Since the club’s incorporation last year, they have served as board members and have attended every fundraising event and official competition. Through their attendance at DECA events, in addition to the business and marketing knowledge learned in their academic program, they have gained extensive networking opportunities with other students within Oklahoma and nationally.

Victoria Cordray competed in both an individual event (Principles of Entrepreneurship) and a team event (Entrepreneurship) with Ava Glave. Victoria came in the top 8 out of a competition field of 38 and was called back into the elimination round. In this round, she came first in her event in Oklahoma, qualifying for ICDC in Orlando.

Avallonis Glave competed in an individual event (Principles of Entrepreneurship) and a team event (Entrepreneurship) with Victoria Cordray. Ava came in the top 8 out of a competition field of 38 and was called back into the elimination round. In this round, she came third out of her event in Oklahoma, qualifying for ICDC in Orlando.

AbbigayleBull came 4th in her team event with Addison Bird for Personal Financial Literacy out of 15 competitors. Abbigayle applied for the Elevate Leadership event at ICDC, of which only eight places are available for Oklahoma students. The criteria for Elevate are a GPA over 2.5, attendance at the Fall Lead-ership Competition, attendance at CDC, being a member of DECA for more than two years, and placing in the top 8 at a CDC event, as well as extracurricular activities in relation to DECA guidelines. The contenders had to submit an application to Mark Burch, the head of Career Tech Oklahoma, and Abbigayle was accepted as one of the eight finalists out of Oklahoma.

Raeyleigh Gensman came 7th in her team event with Lenna Harris for Personal Financial Literacy out of 15 competitors. Raeyleigh applied for the Aspire Leadership event at ICDC, of which only six places are available for Oklahoma students. The criteria for Aspire are a GPA over 2.5, attendance at the Fall Leadership Competition, attendance at CDC, being a member of DECA for more than two years, and placing in the top 8 at a CDC event, as well as extracurricular activities in relation to DECA guidelines. The contenders had to submit an application to Mark Burch, the head of Career Tech Oklahoma, and Raeyleigh was accepted as one of the six finalists.