The King Philip DECA Chapter attended the State Career Development Conference in Boston from Thursday, March 10 to Saturday, March 12. (Photo courtesy King Philip Regional Public Schools) 
KP DECA member Trinjan Kaur (center) and her voting delegate team at the State Career Development Conference. (Photo courtesy King Philip Regional School District) 
KP DECA President Samantha Asprelli and Vice President of Marketing Emma Sheehan holding the King Philip DECA flag in the role call of chapters during the opening session at the State Career Development Conference. (Photo courtesy King Philip Regional School District)
NORFOLK — Superintendent Paul Zinni, King Philip DECA chapter advisor James Dow and Vice President of Marketing Emma Sheehan are pleased to share that numerous King Philip DECA members qualified for the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) at this year’s State Career Development Conference (SCDC).
From Thursday, March 10 through Saturday, March 12, 80 members from King Philip DECA attended SCDC at the Sheraton Hotel and Hynes Convention Center in Boston.
King Philip DECA members joined over 3,000 students, advisors and business professionals in attending the conference and competed in over 50 categories of marketing, hospitality, finance and entrepreneurship topics.
At SCDC, Sophomore Trinjan Kaur was elected to Massachusetts DECA’s State Action Team 64 for the 2022-2023 school year. Kaur campaigned for this position throughout the year and is the first King Philip student elected to the team since 2020.
King Philip DECA was also recognized for having five state challenge winners, achieving Action level (highest honor) for state campaigns, receiving platinum level for the Chapter of Excellence, achieving Thrive level (highest honor) for DECA Inc. campaigns, and getting School-based Enterprise (SBE) gold recertified.
In addition to these accomplishments, 55 King Philip DECA members qualified for ICDC in Atlanta, Georgia this April. King Philip had 55 state champions as well as 14 state finalists.
State Champions:
- Sophomore Megan Eldred and Sophomore Abby Thoren, Business Services Operations
- Sophomore Bridget Swezey and Sophomore Lindsey Field, Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
- Senior Declan Breen, Senior Nico Calderone and Senior Niko Canning, Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
- Sophomore Katharine O’Neil, Finance Operations Research
- Sophomore Abby Hoyt, Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research
- Sophomore Brady Ricci and Sophomore Ethan Bovaird, Sports and Entertainment Operations Research
- Senior Laura Gelsomini, Business Solutions
- Sophomore Ananya Boominathan and Sophomore Zunairah Syeda, Business Solutions
- Senior Samantha Asprelli and Senior Isabella Fraone, Community Awareness
- Junior Julia Lanza, Junior Ava Lanza and Junior Kayla Simas, Community Giving
- Senior Grace Clyde, Career Development
- Sophomore Meghan Sullivan, Sophomore Margaret Crisafi and Sophomore Julia DeVasto, Sales Project
- Junior Phil Harmon and Junior Liam Hickey, Financial Literacy
- Sophomore Trevor Clyde, Innovation Plan
- Sophomore Marisa Hughes, Start Up Business
- Sophomore Trinjan Kaur, Start Up Business
- Senior Peter Dadasis and Senior Christian Dadasis, Independent Business Plan
- Junior Ben Simmons and Junior Caden Heslin, International Business Plan
- Sophomore Jack McCreedy, Sophomore James Hickey and Sophomore Jack Curran, International Business Plan
- Senior Sydney O’Shea, Business Growth Plan
- Senior Jeff Bourque, Senior Noah Hurd and Senior John Pfeiffer, Franchise Business Plan
- Senior Sarah Lehan-Allen, Franchise Business Plan
- Junior Emerson Baker, Junior Lainey Grant and Junior Brooke Noonan, Integrated Marketing Campaign Event
- Sophomore Braedon Reilly, Sophomore Ian Knott and Sophomore Anthony Fraone, Integrated Marketing Campaign Event
- Senior Makayla Hickey, Integrated Marketing Campaign Product
- Sophomore Tessa Sarkar and Sophomore Emily Zappala, Integrated Marketing Campaign Product
- Sophomore Luke Reagan, Sophomore Richard Kent and Sophomore Jake Van Hoesen, Integrated Marketing Campaign Service
- Sophomore Jacob D’Avignon, Financial Consulting
- Senior Jared Curran and Senior Finn Meroski, School-based Enterprise
State Finalists:
- Senior Brooke Stagg and Senior Emma Sheehan, Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research
- Sophomore Caitlin Thompson and Sophomore Rylie Wesley, Business Solutions
- Senior Flynn Duffy, Innovation Plan
- Junior Joe Burke, Junior Jackson Hom and Junior William Bermingham, Independent Business Plan
- Sophomore Luke Anderson and Sophomore Ryan Taylor, Independent Business Plan
- Senior Liz Jacobsen, Integrated Marketing Campaign Event
- Sophomore Ava Reitz and Sophomore Ashley Guenette, Integrated Marketing Campaign Service
- Senior Josh Ramier, Business Services Marketing
State Champions will be moving onto DECA ICDC. The 55 KP DECA students will participate in 29 projects at the conference.
In total, KP DECA will be sending 70% of SCDC projects to ICDC, with the Massachusetts state average being 10% of members moving from SCDC to ICDC. One out of every four projects going to ICDC from Massachusetts DECA are from King Philip. KP DECA also has one project in every written category advancing to ICDC in April.
At ICDC, students will compete against over 200,000 DECA members from 50 different states, four U.S. territories, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Korea and more.
“I’m incredibly proud of all our students’ hard work and dedication,” said Dow. “Everyone did an exemplary job at State presenting their projects and competing. All of their efforts have paid off as we prepare to attend the International Career Development Conference in April.”
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