DECA students advance to international competition

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March 19, 2008

By Kristen Grieco The Gloucester Daily Times Wed Mar 19, 2008, 06:56 AM EDT

Three Gloucester High School seniors who placed high in a state business competition have advanced to the international level.

Erin Kelly, Olivia Perez O'Dess and Willie Norris will compete with about 20,000 other students from around the world at an Atlanta conference in April of DECA, an organization formerly known as Distributive Education Clubs of America.

"Everybody put in their effort," said business teacher and DECA advisor Ann Grassetti. "Everybody did well. It was incredibly competitive."

Eighteen Gloucester High School students went on to the state competition after regionals in January — the most the school has ever had. Performance at the state level had also topped previous years, Grassetti said. She's never had more than two students go to the international conference.

The Gloucester students first competed in a regional competition in Danvers and then, last weekend, at the state competition in Boston.><p>

For the international marketing competition, students will choose an area such as technical sales or international marketing, and either take a test, role-play with judges or make a presentation.

Advancing to Atlanta because of their placings in Boston are:

r Kelly and O'Dess, who placed third of 25 in the fashion merchandising category with a bathing suit line for Victoria's Secret stores.

r Norris, who placed first of 20 students in the entrepreneurship category with his idea for "Broad Bags," bags made of recycled costumes or materials from stage productions.

"That impresses me," said Grassetti of her students' feats.

Several other students also won accolades for Top 10 placement in their categories:

r Austin Sousa, a senior, technical sales.

r Brian Levie, a senior, and Dylan Maki and Alex Trotsky, both juniors, international business plan.

Kelly, O'Dess and Norris will now have the opportunity to rework their presentations for the international competition, which includes students from the United States, Germany, Guam, Puerto Rico and Mexico. They have feedback from the judges and Grassetti has invited local businesspeople to assist with critiques.

About 70 students at Gloucester High School participate in the DECA program, up from two students when Grassetti began it eight years ago.

Grassetti is applying for a grant from the Gloucester Educational Foundation to assist with the students' travel and entry fees. The entry fee is $80 per student and the students will have to stay for three days in Atlanta. She said that local businesses had chipped in to pay for the state costs.

Anyone interested in donating can e-mail Grassetti at agrassetti@gloucester.k12.ma.us.