UCF DECA racked up the hardware this spring semester taking home awards and recognition at the annual state and international competitions. UCF DECA President Brittany Lark was recognized as Outstanding Student of the Year at the State Career conference in Orlando while the DECA team picked up nine first-place awards.
Alex Harkins, founding president of Collegiate DECA at UCF, was recognized with the state’s Merit Award in honor of his many years of service in Collegiate DECA as a student, business and industry professional and judge.
“Being a part of DECA and preparing for conferences like this help students immensely in their professional lives,” Lark said. “Students who participate in DECA learn how to think creatively and back their claims with evidence, while becoming more outgoing, more confident giving presentations and more comfortable in interview settings.”
Lark and fellow marketing student Travis Blanchfield were runners-up for the Grand Award in the International Marketing category at the 55th annual Collegiate DECA International Career Development Conference in Washington, D.C.
“Placing was great and one of the proudest moments of my life,” Blanchfield said. “But what I really found to be most fulfilling—and what DECA really stands for—was networking and connecting with like-minded young professionals from all over the world.”
More than 1,600 attendees from around the world competed at the international conference.
UCF DECA is the college division of the international organization that helps cultivate student leadership in areas such as marketing, management, entrepreneurship, advertising, sales and hospitality. Merit Award
To learn more about UCF DECA, visit business.ucf.edu.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE RESULTS:
GRAND AWARD WINNERS
Second Place: Brittany Lark/Travis Blanchfield—International Marketing
Third Place: Nathan Moore/Brianna Reynolds—Financial Statement Analysis
TOP 10 PLACEMENT
Business Ethics: Christian Pacheco/John Klosner
Emerging Technology Marketing Strategies: Ian Holdeman
Financial Statement Analysis: Nathan Moore/Brianna Reynolds
Human Resource Management: Timothy Ceballos
International Marketing: Brittany Lark/Travis Blanchfield
Restaurant and Food Service Management: Lisa Ben-Chaim
FINALISTS
Business Ethics: Christian Pacheco/John Klosner
Emerging Technology Marketing Strategies: Ian Holdeman
Financial Statement Analysis: Nathan Moore/Brianna Reynolds
Human Resource Management: Timothy Ceballos
International Marketing: Brittany Lark/Travis Blanchfield
Restaurant and Food Service Management: Lisa Ben-Chaim
State Conference Results:
Business Ethics
First Place – Renee Richards/Kevin Almonte
Third Place – Christian Pacheco/Claudia Arbona-Aguirre
Finalist – Vanessa Gomez/Leslie Torres
Finalist – Frederick Alcantara/Jacoby Washington
Business-to-Business Marketing
First Place – Cody Zavada/Mohammad Ali
Entrepreneurship – Starting a Business
Third Place – Paul Santonastaso/Orrin McCullough
Finalist – Akeem Sankey/Christopher Arndt/Timothy Ceballos
Finalist – Christian Gabriel
Financial Statement Analysis
Brianna Reynolds/Nathan Moore
Kaitlyn McCaffrey/Julian Brownlee
Human Resource Management
First Place – Nicholas DeRosa
Second Place – Timothy Ceballos
International Marketing
First Place – Brittany Lark/Travis Blanchfield
Second Place – Lisa Ben-Chaim/Simonas Baksys
Finalist – John Klosner/Valeriya Mikhaylova
Marketing Management
Second Place – Brittany Lark
Finalist – Cody Zavada
Professional Sales
Second Place – Simonas Baksys
Third Place – Paul Santonastaso
Sales Management Meeting
First Place – Brynleigh Benak
Finalist – Joseph Goldthorp
Finalist – Alejandro Miranda
Sports and Entertainment Marketing
Third Place – Cameron Lee/Alejandro Miranda
Finalist – Brynleigh Benak/Christian Gabriel
Finalist – Kiefer Schoenfeld/Nora Dkeidek
Finalist – Ian Holdeman/Nicholas DeRosa
Accounting
First Place – Valeriya Mikhaylova
Third Place – Kaitlyn McCaffrey
Finalist – Jacoby Washington
Finalist – Joseph Goldthorp
Finalist – Akeem Sankey
Banking and Financial Services
First Place – Nathan Moore
Finalist – Mohammad Ali
Finalist – Julian Brownlee
Corporate Finance
First Place – Renee Richards
Second Place – Leslie Torres
Restaurant and Food Service
First Place – Lisa Ben-Chaim
Second Place – Orrin McCullough
Finalist – Ian Holdeman
Finalist – Nora Dkeidek
Retail Management
Second Place – Brianna Reynolds
Third Place – Kiefer Schoenfeld
Finalist – Claudia Arbona-Aguirre