Southeast Missouri State University Collegiate DECA students won high honors in the 2019 Collegiate DECA State Career Development Conference and Competition Feb. 21-22 in Lake Ozark, Missouri.

In the competitive written event, David Rook of St. Louis, Missouri, Alicia Merry of St. Charles, Missouri, Lucas VandaVeer of Pacific, Missouri, and Abby Gordon of Englewood, Colorado, received the honor of having their prepared document advance to the International Career Development Conference and Competition April 27-20 in Orlando, Florida.

Blake Henson of St. Charles, Missouri, and Rook won second and third place respectively in the Entrepreneurship Operations event. Connor McGough of Inverness, Illinois, won first place in the Financial Statement Analysis event, while Kyle Stirling of Wentzville, Missouri, , won second place in the Marketing Management event. Hannah Gordon of Englewood, Colorado, won third place in the Restaurant and Food Service Management event, and Caleb Bertels of Belleville, Illinois, won third place in the Retail Management event. VandaVeer won second place in the Sales Management Meeting event.

Teams taking first place were Austin Marler of Imperial, Missouri, and Collin Kloeppel of Union, Missouri, in Business-to-Business Marketing; and Madison Francis of Farmington, Missouri, and Hannah Gordon in Event Planning. Winning second place in team competition was Emilee Ethier of Pevely, Missouri, and Miranda Pehlke of Channahon, Illinois, in Event Planning; Henson and Lindsey Myers of Oreana, Illinois, in Sports and Entertainment Marketing; and Bertels and Brandon Harrison of Old Monroe, Missouri, in Marketing Communications. Collin Roth of Dupo, Illinois, and Jake Wesley of High Ridge, Missouri, won third place in Marketing Communications.

In addition, several of the Southeast Collegiate DECA competitors were proficiency winners in their events, for superior performance in their case studies and marketing exam.

This years proficiency winners include: Kloeppel in Business-to-Business Marketing; McGough in Financial Accounting, and Financial Statement Analysis; VandaVeer in Sales Management Meeting; Hannah Gordon in Event Planning; Myers in Sports and Entertainment Marketing; Henson in Entrepreneurship Operations, and Sports and Entertainment Marketing; Harrison in Marketing Communications; Bertels in Marketing Communications; Ethier in Event Planning, and Travel and Tourism; Pehlke in Event Planning, and Marketing Management; Merry in Hotel and Lodging; Francis in Event Planning; Wesley in Marketing Communications; Roth in Marketing Communications; and Marler in Business-to-Business Marketing.

Also, VandaVeer won honors for the high score on the Marketing Exam.

As part of its commitment to experiential learning, the Department of Management and Department of Marketing in Southeasts Donald L. Harrison College of Business and Computing has sponsored Collegiate DECA for several years and each year sends numerous participants to the state and international competitions. This semester, membership has increased with more than 40 active members, once again making the Southeast Collegiate DECA chapter among the largest in Missouri.

For more information about the Southeast Collegiate DECA chapter, visit http://web.semo.edu/stu/deca/.