The Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) chapter at Northampton Area High School has raised $58,000 to underwrite its trip to the DECA International Conference April 20-25 in Atlanta, Ga.

“We raised $42,000 at the bingo game for our upcoming trip to Atlanta,” Tara Mrazik, NAHS business department chair and DECA adviser, told Northampton Area School District administrators and school directors at the March 26 board of education meeting.

In April, DECA participants are selling sandwiches to raise more money for the trip.

“If anyone wants hoagies, I’m your girl,” Mrazik quipped.

During the business portion of the meeting, the school board voted 9-0 to approve Mrazik, Maryann Miller, Neali Feimster, Jaclyn Grejda, Matthew Greenplate, Tara Walbert, Ryan Brobst and Robert Steckel to attend the DECA conference in Atlanta, along with 59 DECA students, at a cost of $2,640, which was included in the board-approved 2017-18 NASD budget.

DECA students who won at the state competition were introduced to the board members by their fellow students. Their photos were displayed on the television monitors in the NAHS cafeteria, where the meeting was held. The students displayed poster boards of their projects. Each project and the category in which it won was described.

The DECA Club has 209 members at Northampton, the most of any DECA Club in Pennsylvania. Northampton had 142 DECA members qualify for the state contest, 72 of whom were finalists. Northampton has 61 DECA members who qualified for the national contest. Most DECA Clubs typically have two to 10 who qualify for nationals.