Students involved in DECA traveled to Virginia Beach to compete in the DECA State Leadership Conference from
Feb. 28 – March 1. Out of the 33 students that went, 28 qualified for nationals held in Atlanta. Junior Virginia Bulger won the 2014-2015 Virginia DECA president title.
“Winning DECA president was pretty remarkable,” Bulger said. “When I finally got to the stage after they called my name, I was shaking as I was reading the closing statements. I was in such a daze I put my blazer on wrong.”
While in Virginia Beach, students competed by showing off presentations to judges. Bulger’s group topic for the presentation was a public relations campaign on fire safety at college campuses.
“It is very intense when you’re competing,” Bulger said. “We had a few bumps in our presentation but fixed it with jokes to get him distracted from the error. We all hugged after we got out of the presentation room and were proud of how we did.”
Junior Matt Crump competed in an event by writing a 30-page business plan about a new fitness center in Reston called Transformation Fitness. Crump’s group got second place overall in the state competition and will compete in Atlanta for nationals.
“Getting called on stage was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced,” Crump said. “We were standing in front of thousands of people. I cannot wait to go to Atlanta to compete again.”
During the week, students from all different schools around Virginia had the opportunity to meet and converse at a dance being held at the convention center.
“The dance was pretty lame,” Bulger said. “There was just a lot of people standing around and eating food. I’ll make it better next year, now that I’m state president.”