March 9, 2023 - Downers Grove, Illinois — District 99 students placed within the top ten in several events at the Illinois State Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) Competition. Ten students were automatic national qualifiers by placing top 4 in those events.
North and South High School students joined over 1,300 high school students at the annual conference held March 2-4, 2023. DECA’s industry-validated competitive events are aligned with the National Curriculum Standards in the career clusters of marketing, business management, administration, finance, and hospitality and tourism.
The following students received recognition for individual ability and achievement at the association level:
South High Students
Madeleine Kelly: Sports and Entertainment Marketing
Mathias Jaikovski: Financial Consulting
Tim Malatia: Financial Consulting
Sophia Lodhi & Rylee Monroe: Hospitality and Tourism Team
Taylor Mitchell & Iliana Nenov: Business Law and Ethics Team
Zachary Deplaris: Business Service Marketing
North High Students
Will Beatty: Travel and Tourism Team
Raj Fisher: Travel and Tourism Team
Maddy Dvorak: Entrepreneurship Team
Molly Hagstrom: Entrepreneurship Team
Nolan Hurter: Buying and Merchandising Team
Russell Oros: Buying and Merchandising Team
Maggie Moore: Hospitality Services Team
Sydney Moss: Hospitality Services Team
Dylan Hogg: Retail Merchandising Services
Amneet Kaur: Sports and Entertainment Operations Research
Aashina Sawhney: Principles of Hospitality and Tourism
D99 Automatic National Qualifiers
South High School
Nahla Mokkath, State Champion in Sports and Entertainment Marketing
Nahla Mokkath, State Champion in Business Solution Project
Ryan Lynde, 3rd in Automotive Services Marketing
Mary Ghawaly, 2nd in Professional Selling
Mara Haiduc, Seema Rapjer & Brianna Monroy, 3rd in Financial Literacy Campaign
Nahla was the first double State Champion in the history of Downers Grove South DECA.
North High School
Maggie Moore and Sydney Moss, 4th place in Hospitality Services Team
Will Beatty and Raj Fisher, 4th place in Travel and Tourism Team
DECA’s competitive events directly contribute to every student being college and career ready when they graduate from high school. More than 200 business professionals evaluated the members’ performance in the format of role-plays, case studies, and prepared presentations.
For more information about Illinois DECA, click here.