Four HHS students compete at DECA Nationals in Atlanta

On Sat. April 21, four DECA students from HHS, along with over 10,000 finalist from throughout the nation, headed to Atlanta, GA. They all hoped to win at the 2018 nationals competition.

According to, DECA was founded in 1946. The organization is currently composed of 215,000 members in 3500 high school chapters, and 275 collegiate chapters.

“On Sunday [April 22], we took a test and that is all we did for the competition, and then on Monday we gave our first two role plays, which is where we go to the judges and present our ideas,” said Alex Jono, senior.

There is a small variety of career clusters from which you choose your competitive event. The options available are business management and administration, entrepreneurship, marketing, finance, hospitality and tourism, and personal finance. Each main topic has subtopics that participants can focus.

“My event was restaurant and food services. So, for my two events, I was given a situation that could happen in a restaurant and I had to come up with a business oriented solution to best meet the needs of that restaurant,” Jono said.

Along for the ride in hope to win nationals like Jono was Dante Reminick, junior.

“My topic was an unprepared project. For the unprepared events you have two scenarios you need to solve and you have 10 minutes to present the solutions to the judges,” Reminick said. “My first one involved product positioning in a grocery store and the second one involved rebranding for the health crazed generations.”

On Tuesday, students found out if they made the top 20, which allowed them to give another presentation later that day with the chance to win a top three spot. Though no HHS students placed in the top 20 or top three, it was still a positive experience for Reminick.

“Nationals was an amazing experience for me because I was able to travel, have fun, and compete at a high level,” Reminick said. “Personally, next year I want to win it all.”

In the following year, Reminick hopes that Hopkins DECA can bring more kids to nationals. Next year, DECA nationals will be taking place in Orlando from April 27-30.

“I loved being able to meet new people from around the world and make meaningful connections,” Reminick said.

If you are interested in joining DECA or want to learn more about it, contact Dante Reminick or Jesse Theirl, Business education and ProPEL advisor (located in room S130).