Held in-person and virtually this year, the competition feature 16 different events involving individual case studies, team case studies and prepared presentations.

This year’s state competition winners will compete in the 2022 Collegiate DECA International Career Development Conference and Competition being held April 9-12 in Baltimore, Maryland. 

The following students received honors: 

Team Case Studies Events: 

First Place, Business-to-Business Marketing category:

• Heather Hoffman
• David Oliver, junior marketing management major from Smithton, Ill. 

Second Place, Financial Statement Analysis category:

• Ryan Groszek, junior accounting major from Columbia, Ill.
• Blake Patterson, sophomore healthcare administration major from Hillsboro, Mo.

Second Place, Event Planning category:

• Layla Bouzihay, senior integrated marketing communications from Jonesboro, Ark.
• Philip Francis, senior business administration from Cape Girardeau, Mo. 

Third Place, Event Planning category:

• Payton Gronborg, sophomore human resource management major from Hillsboro
• Ella Koeninger, sophomore business administration major from St. Louis, Mo. 

Third Place, Marketing Communications category:

• Samuel Jones, junior accounting major from Godfrey, Ill.
• Zachary Lakamp, junior marketing, professional selling major from St. Louis

Individual Case Studies Events: 

First Place, Fashion Merchandising category:

• Layla Bouzihay

First Place, Retail Management Marketing category:

• Heather Hoffman 

Third Place, Entrepreneurship Operations category:

• Ethan Wann, sophomore business administration and supply chain management double major from Plymouth, Mass. 

Third Place, Human Resource Management category:

• Alicia Merry, senior corporate communications major from St. Charles, Mo.

Also, Connor Eidson, senior business administration major from Portageville, Missouri, won honors for the high score in the Business Management and Administration Exam.

Southeast Student Elected Missouri DECA Collegiate President

At this year’s conference, Heather Hoffman, a junior marketing management major from Owensville, Missouri, was elected to serve as student president of Missouri DECA Collegiate.

Hoffman will serve for one year. She will assist in planning next year’s state competition and work with leaders from the other Missouri Collegiate DECA chapters. 

She believes DECA is a great organization that helps to prepare students for future career fields, and she wanted to be able to help it grow and impact more students, Hoffman said.

“I hope to accomplish helping to raise membership numbers across each university that participates in DECA, by offering more information and help on recruitment efforts,” she said. “I would also like to reach out and help to initiate opening a Collegiate DECA chapter at a new university in Missouri that does not currently have one.”