CHS DECA Competes in Atlanta, Georgia

Two Cranford High School students attended the DECA International Career Development Conference in Atlanta, GA from April 23 through 27, 2022. More than 17,000 students, judges, advisors, and business professionals from all over the United States attended this yearly conference. It is the culmination of students’ hard work preparing for competition against the best of all DECA members on the international stage. Here, students not only showcase their business talents but have the opportunity to attend leadership seminars, attend a trade show, and network with dozens of business professionals and other DECA delegates from across the country and beyond. The opening and closing sessions were held at the Mercedes Benz arena with competitive events held at the Georgia World Congress Center and area hotels.

Two-time International attendee, senior William Johnson earned his spot at the conference in Atlanta for his top performance at the State Conference in his event, Hotel and Lodging Management. Billy earned high scores for both his role play as well as written test. He is the only student in the past 25 years to take a spot at the international conference in both his freshman and senior years as a Cranford High School DECA delegate. In his first year, William earned his spot at DECA’s International Conference in Orlando, Florida for winning the Open Event/Video Challenge. In addition, William has earned his way to compete at the State Conference in all four years at Cranford High School. Billy is also a President of Cranford High School DECA and has been an active and valued member for the duration of his time with the club. William will be attending Arizona State University in the Fall to major in finance. He has been an integral part of the club as well as an asset in helping to prepare younger students for competition.

Also earning his way to Atlanta was junior Benjamin Serna. We are so proud of Ben and his determination to win at the District and State levels to earn his way to the International stage as a first-year member. Joining DECA in his junior year, Ben’s motivation was on display as he worked diligently to be well-prepared in finance content knowledge, and dedicated his time to practice problem-solving skills for his role play, beating approximately 100 students from all over the State of New Jersey in the area of Principles of Finance. We look forward to continued DECA success next year for Ben as he moves onto competition in his senior year.

Cranford also had a third student who was eligible but unable to attend Nationals in Atlanta Georgia. Junior Garrett Hanlon was also a top performer at the District and State Conferences in his area of expertise, Restaurant and Food Service Management. We look forward to seeing Garrett continue his tradition of success as a senior in the 2022-2023 school year.

DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. It is organized into two unique student divisions each with programs designed to address the learning styles, interest and focus of its members. The High School Division includes more than 173,000 members from 3,200 schools throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Germany. The Collegiate Division includes over 4,000 members in 200 universities and colleges.

DECA’s partners include corporations such as Hilton, Marriott, National Geographic, Walgreen’s, Otis Spunkeyer, and Universal Orlando, to name just a few. These partners seek to support the development of leaders and entrepreneurs that will be successful in a global economy and will be their companies’ employees and leaders, their associations’ members and staff, and responsible future community leaders.

DECA Advisors are Business Management & Information Systems Teacher, Mrs. Donna Cathcart, and Special Education Teacher, Mr. Gregory Braff.