Abby Ciancalo
Staff Writer
Do you believe in magic? Well the Westford Academy DECA club sure does!
This year on Apil 25-28, twenty-two students from WA qualified for the International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Florida whose theme was magic. These were 22 students who made it past the Massachusetts DECA competition on April 30th. Here, members of DECA competed in the national events in their specific categories.
The competition there is extremely stiff. In total, there were over 15,000 students, advisors, business workers, alumni and judges. There were DECA members from not only the United States, but other countries including Germany and Canada.
Even with the intense competition, a few members from WA made it far in the ICDC competition. Junior, Mustafa Buxamusa made it to the finals in his individual event of Buisness Service Management. Sophomore, Nick MacMaster made it to the finals, placing in the top 20 for his event of Automotive
Service Marketing. Both placed first in their categories at the Massachusetts DECA competition.
“It was an incredible experience. I met so many people from so many places that I wouldn’t have met otherwise,” says MacMaster, a first year DECA member.
Juniors, Alexis Jacobson and Richa Kaul brought some girl power to the Orlando scene. The duo placed 1st in the United States and 2nd overall in their Buying and Merchandising team event.
“Just the memory of hearing my name called and knowing we placed makes me cry tears of joy all over again. Definitely one of the best experiences of my life,” says Kaul.
Jacobson agreed with Kaul,
“It was an incredible time. One of my favorite things about nationals, though, is meeting people. You meet people from all over the country and the world, as well as people from WA who you might not otherwise really talk to. It’s such a great experience and I can’t encourage people enough to join DECA next year”.
