DECA

April 28, 2023
DECA students in Orlando

The DECA club at the Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University competed at the national DECA competition in Orlando. 11 of the 14 competitors were named finalists in their respective categories and qualified for the final round of competition.

Lane Dudley - 5th Overall in Financial Accounting (also received one of the top scores in the exam and presentation)
Savannah Sheen - 3rd Overall in Managerial Accounting (also received one of the top scores in the exam and presentation)
Charles Merriam - 6th Overall in Restaurant and Food Service Management (Charles and Sami Sampson both had a top score in the exam portion)
Taegen Ure - 1st Overall in Sales Management Meeting (Taegen had a top score in exam and presentation, and Derek Christensen was also a finalist)
Josie Mutchler - 6th Overall in Travel and Tourism (also received one of the top scores in the presentation)
Natalie Waite - 9th Overall in Advertising Campaign (one of the only competitors in this category to do it alone and not with a teammate)
Emerald Spencer - 4th Overall in Entrepreneurship Starting a Business
Adam Smith and Tayson Jensen  - 2nd Overall in Event Planning
"Our students were making an impression everywhere - every person I spoke to, when they learned I was from USU, would remark at just the total Utah takeover of the competition. We were impactful and stood up strongly against impressive competition," said Cassidy Creech, PhD Lecturer in the MSLE Department.
There were over 1200 competitors, including those from schools such as Texas (UT Austin), Rutgers, Pepperdine, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Utah, UMass, Gonzaga, Cincinnati, and Arizona.

"Emerald Spencer is a remarkable leader, and one by one our DECA club members singled her out as the most critical part of their growth and performance in DECA. I'm so grateful for her! Emerald and I are especially thankful for the support, financial and intangible, given by both the Huntsman School and the MSLE department," Creech said.
After some concern last year at the organization's viability at the collegiate level with dwindling participation, this season of DECA saw a drastic pivot with strong participation and performance.
 
"We are feeling much more confident in the organization and there's definitely an intangible and a quantitative indication of positive momentum. I'm very excited to see what the next year will bring," Creech said.

Learn more about DECA at https://huntsman.usu.edu/clubs/deca