30 April 2023

 

Helen spent most of the week in Orlando at the International DECA competition. From the left are Helen, Rowan, Bryan, Cason, Collin, Mary, Noah, Erik and Danica.

The competition began with testing. Student final scores are a combination of their test scores and their role play scores.

Here's a fun sign at the conference center.

Here's Helen ready for her role play.

This is Bryan, Helen, Cason and Erik. The carpet is unfortunate.

In between events, the team studied and practiced for their next event. They also changed clothes several times a day. They are required to wear professional clothing for their events, but change into casual clothes as soon as possible.

On Monday night, all 23,000 DECA students went to Universal Studios.

Helen liked the Harry Potter section of the park the best. The group had dinner at The Leaky Cauldron.

Mr. Rogan likes to pull the students in for a team huddle.

Here's the final night. The team had a great week. Rowan finished in the top 10 in her event. They worked hard, played hard and came home exhausted.

One last team huddle in the Medford airport. This ends Helen's DECA career, from a sophomore competing on zoom during covid, to a three-time state winner and three-time competitor at ICDC, to supporting her team as the chapter president.

A highlight of Gibson's week was using a riding lawnmower. Brandan and Gibson minister to a widow who usually mows her own lawn. When she started her lawn mower recently, clouds of smoked billowed from the engine and she was worried it would catch fire. When BRandan and Gibson started the mower this week, the smoke cleared within a few minutes. The mower is probably burning a bit of oil, but it still runs and cuts grass well.