Gloucester DECA made some big changes this year, such as passing the advisor torch to new advisor Christine Simmons with full confidence that she would lead Gloucester to victory. Another big change has been starting to take a more active role in non-competitive events such as attending the “Ultimate DECA Power Trip” back in November, and donating money towards a new charity every month. However, this team does not mess around when it comes to competitive events either. 

“Our only goals were to go in there, work together, and grow from this learning experience,” junior and first year DECA member Camilla Wilkins-Bowens said about her team and their case study in sports and entertainment marketing. “Next up is states, and we couldn’t be more excited. The hard work doesn’t stop here though.”

On Thursday, January 6th, members of GHS DECA went to Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts for their first competition of the year. They faced the rest of District 6 for a chance at placing top 5 in their category and moving on to the State Career Development Conference (SCDC). Gloucester competed against Beverly, Bishop Fenwick, Boston Latin, Madison Park, Manchester-Essex, Marblehead, Medford Tech, Melrose, Northeast Metro Tech, Rockport, Swampscott, and Triton Regional. 

Bringing only 23 people this year from Gloucester, they managed to dominate and bring home 15 medals and will be taking 19 people to SCDC. This includes qualifiers Touloula Olubanjo  (Automotive Services – 5th), Dakota Oliveira and Cameron MacDonald (Business Law and Ethics Team – 2nd), Kira Berlin and Lily Muniz (Buying and Merchandising Team – 2nd), Chiara O’Connor (Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling – 3rd), Emily Corrao (Principles of Hospitality and Tourism – 4th), Sean Bergin ( Professional Selling – 3rd), Daniel Beaton (Professional Selling – 2nd), Emma Allen and Camilla Wilkins-Bowens (Sports and Entertainment Marketing – 4th), Christopher Karvelas, Brady Patten and John Tavares (Start-Up Business Plan – 1st), and Eliana Faria (Financial Consulting), as well as 4 additional members to compete on Gloucester’s Quiz Bowl Team at SCDC which are undetermined at this time.

“I am very pleased with the results, members have worked very hard to prepare for districts and their hard work paid off,” advisor Christine Simmons said. “These experiences outside of the classroom are unparalleled, DECA enhances the classroom experience by bringing it to life and giving them the chance to create connections with other like minded students.”  

March 10th through 12th, these 19 students will be travelling to Boston and staying at the Marriott Copley Place while competing against DECA members from all over the state of Massachusetts for spots to the International Career Development Conference (ICDC). ICDC will be hosted in Atlanta, Georgia this year where members from across the country as well as internationally will attend.