On January 12, 2018, Midlo’s talented DECA members traveled to Chesterfield Town Center dressed to impress the judges and ready to excel in the DECA District Leadership Competition (DLC). The students’ energy and determination was palpable to marketing teacher and DECA club sponsor Mrs. Carolyn Manheim, who exclaims, “My DECA members are truly exceptional, bright, and dedicated kids. They never fail to give DECA their 100% effort, and I am so proud to have such amazing students.”.

DECA focuses on marketing, so any student who joins DECA must be in a business/marketing class in accordance to Virginia DECA rules. The club provides an opportunity for students to experience life as an entrepreneur, an inventor, or a marketing planner. At DECA competitions like DLC, the students face difficult tasks involving some sort of business/marketing problem, and they create plans that would solve the problem. The issue could be anything from how to bring in more customers to a store on a day that lacks its usual congestion to how to compete with a similar store in the same shopping center. Throughout the year, Mrs. Manheim also hosts different catered social events for club members and does community service activities. Sign-ups for DECA do not begin again until next school year, but as scheduling time approaches, anyone interested in DECA should sign up for a marketing class to be eligible.

Last year, the competition took place at ECPI Technical Center, but this year, it returned to the mall, where it has taken place in previous years. Students loved the new location because they could shop, eat, and socialize in between events. Devin Mccombs, Kyle Clarke, Finlay Raphael, Nathan Brown, and Riley Townsend dined at Five Guys for lunch. Zach Moreau, Ben McCormack, Cameron Long, Caroline Leach, and Jay Burdette went to Chick fil A.

To qualify for the next competition, the DECA State Leadership Conference in Virginia Beach, VA, students must place 1st or 2nd, a very difficult task to accomplish when competing against roughly 20-30 students depending on the event. Midlo crushed the competition this year with an amazing 24 students to qualify for the state competition:

Will Nagy, 1st place in Personal Finance Literacy

Zachary Biller, 1st place in Principles of Marketing

Will Brown, 1st place in Accounting Applications

Erin Fogle, 1st place in Apparel & Accessories

Chris Sawyer, 1st place in Automotive Services

John Williams, 1st place in Business Finance

Devin McCombs, 1st place in Business Services

Ben Sultzer, 1st place in Food Marketing

Thomas Gray, 1st place in Hotel & Lodging Management

Chris Dutton, 1st place in Human Resources Management

Tyler Ezell, 1st place in Marketing Communications

Maddie McGregor, 1st place in Quick Serve Restaurant Management

Lauren Hensley, 1st place in Restaurant and Food Service Management

Makayla Crisp, 2nd place in Job Interview

Jackson Abel, 2nd place in Selling

Sujeet Alwin, 2nd place in Principles of Business Administration

Preston Willett, 2nd place in Principles of Hospitality & Tourism

Clay Robb, 2nd place in Accounting Applications

Gabby McGinnis, 2nd place in Automotive Services

Kyle Clarke, 2nd place in Business Finance

Will Morris, 2nd place in Entrepreneurship

Finlay Raphael, 2nd place in Food Marketing

Palmer Ward, 2nd place in Human Resources Management

Dalan Pham, 2nd place in Retail Merchandising

Emanuele Hoo-Fatt, 3rd place in Principles of Business Administration

Zach Zezza, 3rd place in Principles of Finance

Kendall Bernard, 3rd place in Principles of Hospitality & Tourism

Ben Clarke, 3rd place in Accounting Applications

Tyler Schrimpsher, 3rd place in Automotive Services

Jack Williams, 3rd place in Business Services

Faizan Saleem, 3rd place in Entrepreneurship

Chandler Dodge, 3rd place in Hotel & Lodging Management

Ben McCormack, 3rd place in Sports & Entertainment

Jackson Walworth, 3rd place in Social Media

Congratulations to all the talented business men and women who placed and also those that qualified for the DECA State Leadership Conference in Virginia Beach!