Several students place at or near the top at DECA International competition

Thirty-five Lake Washington School District (LWSD) students were finalists or better at this year’s DECA International Career Development Conference. Three students, two of them a team, took home first place and many others had top tests scores, were finalists and/or finished in the top 10 in several of the categories. This year’s event was held in Anaheim, Calif. from April 27-30 with the Grand Awards Session taking place on the final day. Approximately 23,000 high school students participated in this year’s conference. Students from all four LWSD comprehensive high schools participated.

According to its website, the DECA experience starts in the classroom where students learn business concepts in preparation for college and careers. A powerful instructional component, DECA brings the classroom to life by empowering the teacher-advisor to make learning relevant with educational programs that integrate into classroom instruction, apply learning, connect to business and promote competition. Although only qualifying members may take part in the competitive events series, the [international] conference also offers workshops, academies and networking for students who wish to further their business skills.

Below is a list of students who either qualified as finalists, placed in the top 10 or had a top test score:

Eastlake High School

• Misha Singh - Automotive Services Marketing Series, 1st Place
• Sprahaa Bhattad and Manya Pradeep Narayan - Human Resources Management, Top 10 Finalist
• Shreya Ambekar, Ananya Tripathi and Mridu Karanam - Sales Project, Top 10 Finalist
• Vishruth Arimanda and Archis Kajale - Financial Services Team Decision Making, Top 10 Finalist
• Niha Dinesh - Principles of Marketing, Top 10 Finalist
• Pranav Tripathi - Automotive Services Marketing Series, Top 10 Finalist
• Max Qu and Arjun Balaji - Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making, Finalists
• Prisha Shah and Gayathri Arvindh - International Business Plan, Finalists
• Jaikrishnaa Obulisamy - Accounting Applications Series, Finalist
• Shriya Narayan - Business Finance Series, Finalist
• Ananya Prakash - Food Marketing Series, Finalist
• Aakarsh Agrawal - Entrepreneurship Series, Top Test
• Sneha Sharma - Retail Merchandising Serie, Top Test

Lake Washington High School

• Ria Sinha and Sitara Ravishankar - Sports and Entertainment Marketing, 1st Place
• Sarah Wen and Anoushka Oka - Hospitality Services Team Decision Making, 2nd Place
• Logan Schmidt and Brooke Gardner - Sports Entertainment Marketing, 4th Place
• Amelie Madison - Principles of Hospitality and Tourism, Finalist
• Hannah Fortman - Sports and Entertainment Operations Research, Finalist
• Katie Davis - Sports and Entertainment Operations Research, Finalist
• Amanda Lee - Sports and Entertainment Operations Research, Finalist
• Brice Liu - Accounting Applications Series, Top Role Play

Redmond High School

• Anika Chitnis - Apparel and Accessories Marketing Series, 4th Place
• Varnika Bhargava - Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling, Top 10 Finalist
• Luke Lee and Annie Ly - Hospitality Services Team Decision Making, Top 10 Finalist
• Ishan Agrawal and Aahad Ali - Marketing Management Team Decision Making, Finalist
• Swetha Mandaleeka - Restaurant and Food Service Management, Finalist