Haywood High School DECA students, advancing from the DECA State Marketing competition, attended the International Career Development Conference April 23-26 in Nashville. They competed with over 12,000 other high school marketing students from around the globe.

Students advancing from State were Mary-Wyatt Pettigrew, Hannah Riley, Taylor Ann King, Adara Donald, Quinton Douglas, and Cate Thompson. Their competitive events were Business Operations Research. Each team prepared lengthy proposals for business owners, including strategies to increase employee engagement in the workplace.

“DECA has only been at HHS for three years, so we were very proud to be able to compete at this level for the first time. This year the international competition was held in Nashville. Next year it will be held in Anaheim, California. That would be a special opportunity for students to be able to compete there next year,” said DECA Advisor Julie Davis.