A total of 193 students from 15 Fairfax County Public Schools high schools were recognized as competitive-event winners at the Virginia DECA State Leadership Conference, advancing to international competition.
Thirty-five students were named firstplace winners, 28 students earned second-place awards, and 14 students place third in their events.
DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs to be college and career ready. In Virginia, DECA members are enrolled in a marketing education class at their high schools.
First-place winners from schools in the Sun Gazette coverage area include:
– From James Madison High School: Hannah Carmen, financial consulting; Emily O’Brien and Alina Williams, hospitality and tourism research.
– From McLean High School: Jackson Chadwick and Jay Shin, marketing management.
– From Oakton High School: Teresa Huang, business finance; Jake Janson, business growth plan; Suhith Kanneganti, business-services marketing; Savit Nair and Andrew Taylor, financial-services team decision-making; Ishika Lal and Dustin Tran, hospitality services team decision-making; Zarif Hasan, hotel and lodging management; Ally Silas, human-resource management; Zach Marshall, innovation; Kennedy Kabance and Alessia Ucci, international business; Leo Savitsky, job interview; Anjana Rajesh, professional selling; Michelle Kwak, retail merchandising; and Ryan Odell and Kiara Riley, travel and tourism marketing team.