Three Westfield High School students will be attending the DECA International Career Development Conference from April 26 to May 1 in Anaheim, Calif. The students, Sean Lacey, Justin Vivirito and Dan Allie will be accompanied by their sports and entertainment marketing teacher Jennifer Lee,
"THIS IS the first time Westfield has ever had any students compete at the national level," said Lee. "We are proud of their accomplishments."
Some 20,000 students from across the nation, Guam, Puerto Rico and Canada are expected to attend.
The three students competed in Districts against more than 2,000 students from Fairfax County last January at Fair Oaks Mall, then went on participate in the state competition in Norfolk, where they competed against 2,500 students from throughout Virginia. At this event, Westfield's DECA chapter received an award for the most chapter growth in the state.
The students compete in different events.
Sean Lacey, a senior, competes in the Vehicles and Petroleum event, role-playing situations in the automotive industry. In the District competition at Fair Oaks, he placed second overall and at the state competition placed within the top seven to qualify for nationals.
Dan Allie, a senior, competes in Food Marketing, Management Level event. Drawing from his experience working for Safeway two years ago and role-playing situations in the food retail industry, he received second place overall at the district competition, and at the national competition he was among the top seven to advance to nationals.
AND JUSTIN VIVIRITO, a senior who drew on his experience working at the Hilton Hotel, received a first place overall in Marketing Management at the district competition. He is a Hilton Scholarship recipient (one of five students receiving this $1,000 award in the nation) and will be attending the Senior Management Institute, a leadership training event, at the conference in Anaheim.
DECA is a national association for students and teachers of marketing, management and entrepreneur ship. These three students are members of Westfield's DECA chapter, a co-cirrucular club open to all marketing students.
These students will be among 628 Virginians attending the conference, constituting the second largest state DECA representation. The Westfield students and Lee will also go to Disneyland and Universal Studios.