Urbana juniors Catie Timm and Arianna Souders pose with their top 10 medals at the recent DECA Inc. International Career Development Conference.
Submitted photos
The UHS DECA group poses together at the recent DECA Inc. International Career Development Confrence. Pictured are (left to right) Advisor Thomas Russell, Paige Arnett, Catie Timm, Arianna Souders and Anna Selvaggio.
Submitted photos
Submitted story
On April 21-26, 4 members of the Urbana High School DECA Chapter traveled to Orlando, Fla., to compete in DECA Inc.’s International Career Development Conference.
Over 22,000 students from all 50 states, Canada, Spain, Guam, Germany, Puerto Rico, Japan, and Latvia participated in a multitude of events that focused on Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Finance, Hospitality and Management.
Urbana’s members included senior Anna Selvaggio and juniors Paige Arnett, Arianna Souders and Catie Timm. Each group prepared a 20-page paper and 15-minute presentation to take in front of a judge.
The team of Arnett and Selvaggio participated in Project Management Financial Literacy – where they planned and executed a financial literacy campaign aimed at bringing more awareness to this topic, specifically budgeting, within the halls of UHS.
The major event of the project was to run a financial literacy simulation alongside of Kiley Horn, OSU Extention Office Champaign County, called Real Money, Real World.
More than 175 UHS students participated in the simulation as well as 20-plus community volunteers.
Souders and Timm competed in the Project Management Community Awareness event where they conducted mental health efforts within UHS.
During this project, Souders and Timm organized mental health education activities like virtual graphics (displayed on the CEP televisions placed throughout the community), mental health walls (set up beside the UHS main office), and conducted the 3rd annual mental health fair at UHS.
This year, 400-plus students participated in the fair and 12-plus vendors were present to inform students about their services and on mental health topics.
Souders and Timm finished the competition placing 5th overall out of 160-plus teams. This marked the 2nd time UHS DECA had a 5th place finish, the first occurring last year in Atlanta.
In 2023-2024, the UHS DECA Chapter will pursue these achievements once again, as the planning for ICDC in Anaheim, Calif., has already begun.
Stay updated on the chapter’s plans and progress on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @urbanadeca. The chapter has plans to bring back Real Money, Real World, Mental Health Fair, UHS PowderPuff Game, Chapter Sponsorship & Banner Fundraiser, as well as adding new events.
If you, someone you know, or a local business would like to offer support, please contact Thomas Russell, DECA Advisor at [email protected].
Submitted by Urbana DECA
