San Jose, California— On Friday, December 6, 2024, Harker DECA hosted a mock conference where first-year members experienced a simulation of a real conference consisting of a testing session, a roleplay tournament, workshops hosted by the officer team, and an awards ceremony to conclude. 

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After the Opening Ceremony, the flight groups sorted into their roleplay timeslots. Those who weren’t in a roleplay were listening to workshop presentations. Abigail Sachse, Director of Testing, gave a presentation answering common roleplay questions in the audience while also explaining how to mitigate challenges by giving roleplay and testing tips. The interactive Q&A was followed by a quizlet live where students were able to compete against each other in a Business Administration Core Exam speed round 

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Next, was the How to Do an Interview with Nicole Dean, Director of Engagement, and Kai Nishimura, Director of Communications. This presentation gave helpful tips on how to prepare and perform in a business interview. Audience members got a chance to participate in a mock interview, applying the skills they learned while also receiving feedback. 

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After all the roleplays were finished, students ate dinner while also having the time to socialize. In the meantime, officers tallied all of the participants' scores. 

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The testing session commenced with the conclusion of dinner. Participants who finished early received feedback on their written events for SVCDC from the officer team. Once testing ended, everyone gathered back in the auditorium to listen to California DECA State Officer, Aum Patel, present on how to create and conduct a presentation for a written event. 

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The event concluded with Closing Ceremony.

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Winners are as follows: 

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PEN + FMS + TTDM 

1st Place: Rachel Li

2nd Place: Adrian Jia

3rd Place: Ashley Zhou & Isabella Wong 

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PHT

1st Place: Aditya Banwasi 

2nd Place: Adithya Sathyanarayanan

3rd Place: Siddharth Muchherla 

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PBM+PMK: 

1st Place: Will Hou 

2nd Place: Daniel Xi

3rd Place: Michael Chinkov

PFN

1st Place: Medha Choudhry 

2nd Place: Smera Savadi

3rd Place: Onslow Newnan

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About The Harker School DECA 

Harker DECA is an International Competitive Business Organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in four fields of business: marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. Our DECA chapter integrates classroom instruction, applies learning, connects to business, and promotes competition in order to prepare the next generation to be academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, and experienced leaders.

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Contact Information

To learn more about this story, please contact:

Kai Nishimura, Director of Communications

27KaiN@students.harker.org

deca.harker.org

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