On January 6, 2012 seven Hill School students traveled to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in King of Prussia to compete in the DECA District #8 Competition. Ronuk Modi ’12, Alex Evans 12’, Spencer Isen ’13, Cameron Isen ’14, Aaron Hamburger ’12, Mike Wang ’13, and Erik Schmidt ’15 all qualified to compete in the State Competition on February 22-24 to be held in Hershey, Pa.

DECA is a youth organization “which prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.” Founded in 1946, there are DECA members in 5,000 schools and 200 colleges, in all 50 states and several other countries, including China and Korea. “DECA enhances the preparation for college and careers by providing co-curricular programs that integrate into classroom instruction, applying learning in the context of business, connecting to business and the community and promoting competition. Our student members leverage their DECA experience to become academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders."(www.deca.org)

With Hill Instructor of Chinese Chris DeLucia serving as the group’s faculty adviser, The Hill School founded its DECA chapter in November of 2011, and in a few short weeks was off to the first level of competition. In team events, the top five scores, consisting of a written test and role play, advance the team to the State Competition, while the top seven scores in individual events advance.

As a team, Ronuk Modi and Alex Evans competed in the “Buying and Merchandising Management” team event, placing fifth in their DECA debuts. Spencer and Cameron Isen, who competed in the “Marketing Communications Management” team event, placed second. Spencer and Cameron are in their second year of competition dating back to when they attended the Haverford School. Aaron Hamburger, the only other veteran of DECA, qualified for the national tournament three years ago. This year, he placed third in his return to the competition in the “Business Finance” event. Aaron also placed first in his category for role play. Meanwhile, Mike Wang placed fifth in “Human Resources Management” in his first DECA competition. Erik Schmidt scored highest out of all the contestants on the “Principles of Business Management and Administration” event, with his written test score earning him fifth place. Overall, this rookie Hill School team had a monumental debut as it went seven for seven, receiving nine awards. -- Written by Cameron Isen '14

For further information on Hill DECA, please contact faculty adviser Chris DeLucia at cdelucia@thehill.org.