In February, 142 Northampton Area High School DECA members competed at the annual Pennsylvania DECA State Career Development Conference at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center in Hershey.

Students competed in written events or competency-based role-play events. Students either qualified at the district conference in December or completed a written event where they were tasked with writing a five- to 30-page paper, followed by giving a 15-minute presentation.

During the three-day conference, students had the opportunity to attend various development workshops, network with over 2,300 other DECA members from around the state, connect with ambassadors from various collegiate institutes and hear from some of national DECA’s keynote speakers, including Jaron May, executive president, and Mason Maverick Smith, North-Atlantic region vice president.

These activities were able to both prepare and excite students about competing in their specific event on the second day of the conference. Some of the competitive events that Northampton students participated in included automotive services, community service projects, finance operations research, franchise business plans, quick-serve restaurant management and more.

For 61 of Northampton’s competitors, the hard work paid off when they qualified for the International Career Development Conference, which will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. The conference runs April 21-24. The Konkrete Kids will try to make this already impressive year of competition even more limitless.

Northampton had a whopping total of 78 finalists, which included 14 first-place winners. The Northampton Area High School DECA chapter had the most students qualify from any one school this year.

To raise funds for this upcoming trip, Northampton DECA will be hosting two bingo sessions with Pampered Chef items as prizes. Bingo is scheduled for 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. March 24. There will also be a separate Chinese auction for each session that will be drawn during the bingo games. There will be food and special games available for purchase. Tickets are $20.

In addition, businesses in the community are welcome to make a donation to help defray the costs of the opportunity.

To learn more about Northampton DECA or to make a donation for the members’ trip, contact Tara Mrazik at mrazikt@nasdschools.org or 610-262-7812, ext. 12307. You can also visit the organization’s Facebook page by searching “Northampton High School DECA.”