In late January, Olentangy Orange kicked off the DECA Competition season with most of our junior and senior members competing at districts!

Students choose an event to compete in from one of the DECA career clusters: business management and administration, entrepreneurship, finance, hospitality and tourism, marketing and personal financial literacy. 

Students can compete individually or as a team in either a role-play or written event. Students competing in a role-play take a cluster exam prior to district competition. 

In team decision making events participants work to analyze a case study in a specific career area and develop a solution. Individual Series Events are individual member events that pose business challenges with role-plays set in specialized career areas. Principles of Business Administration Events are for individual first-year DECA members, individuals are asked to explain several core business concepts. DECA Written Events consist of a written business plan and a prepared presentation before a judge.

Testing took place Thursday, January 18th 2024, followed by competitive event competitions on January 25th. 

Award placement was based solely on test scores as a couple of schools in our district had a two-hour delay due to fog. Role-plays and written event presentations still took place, providing valuable practice and experience for DECA members. 

Orange competed against twelve different schools: Olentangy Berlin, Olentangy, Olentangy Liberty, Pickerington North, Granville, Metro Early College, Gahanna Lincoln, Ohio High Point Triad, Ohio High Point Marysville, Ohio High Point Graham, Marion Harding, and Columbus Scioto. 

Twenty five students placed in the top five of their events, earning a spot to move on to the State Competition in March. Four students placed 1st in their event! 

District Top Five  

• Andrew Lowery, senior, ACT – 2nd place 
• Brooks Hamilton, junior, BFS – 1st place 
• Colin McNamara + Adam Welch, juniors, BLTDM – 2nd place 
• Claire Jenkins + Audrey Reynolds, BTDM – 3rd place
• Sierra Toot + Kaden McClary, seniors, ETDM – 1st place 
• Carver Gibson + Liam Hoffman, juniors, FTDM – 4th place 
• Klaus Diem + Brady Farren, seniors, HTDM – 4th place 
• Pearl Vyas + Caitlin Layne, juniors, IMCE – 5th place 
• Nicholas Jonckheer, junior, MCS – 3rd place
• Larissa Paduchik, senior, MCS – 5th place 
• Cameryn Needs, junior, PHT – 2nd place 
• Joslin Chacko, junior, PMK – 3rd place 
• Isabella Ahmer, senior, QSRM – 1st place 
• Ava Cook, senior, RMS – 2nd place 
• Ava Ongaro, senior, RMS – 4th place

Proud of all the work of our OOHS DECA members! Onto the state competition!

Written by Senior DECA Vice President Sierra Toot, contributions made by advisor Mrs. Gellenbeck.