Deer Park School District

Deer Park DECA Students Capture Three Trophies at State Conference

Forty-six students from Deer Park High School’s DECA club competed in New York DECA’s 65th annual State Career Conference, earning three trophies. They were among nearly 3,000 high school business students from across the state in attendance at the annual contest, held March 6-8 at the Joseph A. Floreano Rochester Riverside Convention Center in Rochester.

Top five overall trophy winners, all finishing in second place, were Nora Elmoussaoui, earning fourth place in Food Marketing; Sidra Syed, earning fifth place in Food Marketing; and Luis Rodriguez, earning fifth place in Personal Financial Literacy. These three trophy winners earned the right to move on to compete in DECA’s International Career Development Conference from April 27-30 in Anaheim, California.

Top 10 overall winners were LaSheena Pottinger, finishing seventh in Principles of Business Management, Jaidyn Schab, finishing eighth in Personal Financial Literacy, Kimberly Cho and Nobin Nath, finishing ninth in Financial Services Team, Thomas Wesnofske, finishing 10th in Automotive Services.

Top 10 test winners were Shujana Aurin (Hotel & Lodging Management), Abigail Cullen (Hotel & Lodging Management), Max Ferguson (Automotive Services), Jade Griffin (Apparel & Accessories), Damon Ierulli (Hospitality Services Team), Gloria Min (Financial Consulting), Valerie Ponte (Human Resources Management) and Reza Zorakhsh (Principles of Finance).

Top 10 role play winners were Jade Griffin (Apparel & Accessories), Katia Papailler (Hospitality & Tourism Professional Selling), Sarina Saeed and Tonika Sikder (Business Law & Ethics Team) and Luciano Stallone (Accounting Applications).

Seniors Shujana Aurin, Nora Elmoussaoui, Jade Griffin, Calvin Nguyen and Katia Papailler were inducted into the New York DECA Honor Society; requirements for induction include three or four years of membership in the club, an 85 average in all classes, a 90 average in business classes and participation in at least one state conference.

Also, Deer Park High School’s school store received School-Based Enterprise Gold Certification thanks to a proposal written by Elmoussaoui and Griffin.

Finally, Deer Park DECA adviser Gregory Menig was presented with New York DECA’s Outstanding Service Award.

“Congratulations to all of our students on a job well done,” Menig said.