The LAHS chapter of the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) attended the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference from January 4 to 6. Members competed in a variety of business events by roleplaying in their events, presenting their projects to judges and taking written exams.

“Even though it was our first competition, all of our members did very well at the district conference,” DECA Co-president junior Lillian Zhou said.  “And now that we have firsthand experience at a conference, we’ll take our successes and repeat them at states.”

The conference also included an opening ceremony, a dance, and a closing ceremony. The next conference will be at the Santa Clara Marriott on Thursday, February 28. All DECA members can still go to the state competition, regardless of how they placed at SVCDC.  However, to move on from states to the international level, an individual must make top three for their event overall at states.

“The conference has definitely shown us how much potential this new club has,” Lillian said.  “From the conference, we’ve not only gained confidence in the successes of our future endeavors, but also valuable experience that we’ll use to achieve these successes.”

Los Altos won following awards:

Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling—Mary Liu, Top Eight
Hotel and Lodging Management—Mary Liu, Top Eight
Principles of Business Management and Administration—Riyana Basu and Lilian Zhou, Finalists; Derrick Lu and Michelle Wu, Finalists and Top Eight
Principles of Marketing—Nikhil Raman, 2nd Place (written portion)
Restaurant and Food Service Management Series—Weichi Su, 1st Place