UCF Business Students Pick Up Awards at 2016 Collegiate DECA Conferences

Collegiate DECA winners 2016

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