The Indian Hill School District celebrates the Indian Hill High School DECA team, earning 89 state qualifiers during the DECA District Competition. In total, 136 Braves competed at University of Cincinnati Clermont on January 29-30.
“Being a 4-year DECA student, I truly believe this is a remarkable program that sets students up for success,” said Indian Hill High School student and first-place DECA finisher Laura Kremer. “These are real-world scenarios that give us insight and practice in the business world. I have had an amazing experience under the guidance of teachers Susan Schonauer and Phil Said and can’t wait to compete at the state level.”
“We are thrilled with the results our team earned at DECA districts, and we are ready to help our students refine presentations as we prepare for state,” said Indian Hill Marketing Instructor Phil Said, who mentors the DECA program in partnership with Great Oaks. “Last year, we had students make it all the way to the international stage; we are so pleased with how our program has continued to grow and evolve each year, and we commend the hard work the students put into their projects to achieve this level of success.”
The Indian Hill High School students who earned accolades include:
First place: Crisper Chabris, Derek Zee, Samantha Kayne, Jessi Robinson, Jonah Bonomo, JC Chen, Nathan Bunkowske, Mia Bolden, Vivian Whaley, Jenna O’Driscoll, James McGrath, Cristina Dos Santos, Nathan Chamot, Laura Kremer, Abby Zender, Samantha Rozakis, Cody Goldstone, Jordan Hall, Neelan Gandhi, Dylan Hartman, Gea Eshleman, and Alyssa Kerr.
Second place: Dan DeBow, Brady Evans, Kenzie Holum, Jim Liebel, Brandon Yang, Emma Fitzpatrick, Paige Rabenold, Sophia Butcher, Nathan Reich, Hollis Chan, Payton Onthank, and Yvonne Gao.
Third place: Eli Camp, Christian Mangano, Marley Cady, Merrie Leder, Megan O’Shaughnessy, Grace Perry, Charlotte Condorodis, Jolyne Gunadi, Liz George, Nella Lewellen, Ethan Brown, Johnathan Foley, Milana Barrett, Anna Johnson, James O’Driscoll, Connor Wilkes, and Alex Tasner.
Fourth place: Macy Overton, Nina Bosley, Brynne Pontious, Sophie Qiao, Kate Wallbrown, Grace Zhang, Sam Vigran, Hadley Yarnell, Arjun Velayutham, and Danny Hazen.
Fifth place: Alex Bunkowske, Zach Holzapfel, Griffin Adams, Madeleine Lanphear, Leo Chen, Katie Josephic, Kate O’Driscoll, Teresa Linser, Rachel Lee, Ardisha Thawrani, Mia Sulfsted, Caroline Rinala, Myles Chen, and Luke Brachle.
Sixth place: Claire Frazier, Heidi Hansen, Enguerrand Bonniol, Isabella Conn, Grace Nguyen, Gianni Consolino, Carter Cushman, Kathryn Setzekorn, Sophia Steinker, Ava Buffetta, Caroline Grace, Nursulton Almurodov, and Caleb Stubblefield.
Seventh place: Dila Derinkuyu.
The DECA State Competition will take place March 11-12 in Columbus. DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs with a career interest in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA enhances the preparation for college and careers by providing co-curricular programs that integrate into classroom instruction, apply learning, connect to business, and promote competition. DECA student members leverage their DECA experience to become academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders. DECA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with nearly 250,000 members in 4,000 high school and college chapters in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Germany.
Photo caption: Indian Hill High School DECA district competitors gained hands-on experience within the marketing and business fields.