For the third year in a row, members of the Central Methodist University Collegiate DECA chapter qualified for international level competition by earning top placements at the Missouri Collegiate DECA State Career Development Conference.
Headlining Central’s performance at February’s SCDC at Lake of the Ozarks was Alexis McClure, president of the Missouri Association of Collegiate DECA, who placed first in the individual managerial accounting competition. She also placed fourth in financial accounting.
Also placing in the top five and earning the right to compete at the Collegiate DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) were Rachel Smith, Caitlyn King, Stephanie Rodriguez and Alan Joens. Smith, chapter president for CMU Collegiate DECA, placed fourth in both the hotel and lodging and the travel and tourism competitions, while King earned fifth place in fashion merchandising and marketing. Rodriguez and Joens were paired up for the team event planning competition, in which they placed fourth.
All five of the students will move on to compete at ICDC on April 9-12 in Baltimore. Smith, McClure, and King have all qualified for ICDC in the past, with King making it to the final round in last year’s virtual ICDC competition. Rodriguez and Joens, who were described by chapter advisor Dave Hickman as a “very promising team,” will be competing at ICDC for the first time.
In addition to SCDC competition, the CMU Collegiate DECA chapter’s big month of February continued with its completion of the Leadership Passport Program. The passport program is a set of activities completed by chapters and/or individuals that are completed in order to achieve different levels of recognition. Activities come from categories emphasized by DECA: Academically Prepared, Community Oriented, Professionally Responsible, and Experienced Leaders.
Central was the only chapter in Missouri to complete the program and one of only 18 chapters in the country to do so. Eight CMU students earned individual recognition as well, the only Missouri DECA students to do so. Rodriguez, Keighlan Cronin, Taylor Dial, Mia Mueller, Madison White, and Egle Kavaliunaite earned recognition at the Executive level, while Kelena Oots and Jayklin Smith achieved the Diplomat level, which is the second-highest possible.