Students explore future pathways at first-ever San Diego MiniCon at CCA – San Diego Union-Tribune

The Canyon Crest Academy DECA chapter hosted Southern California’s very first San Diego DECA Miniconference on Nov. 15, bringing together over 300 local students interested in pursuing careers in business.

DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) aims to prepare high school students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management through classroom instruction, project-based learning and competitive events.

Student competitors from eight San Diego DECA high school chapters, including CCA, Torrey Pines, Del Norte, Jserra Catholic High School, Santa Fe Christian, San Pasqual, La Costa Canyon and Rancho Bernardo High School converged on the CCA campus to compete in events in the cluster areas of marketing, finance, entrepreneurship series and business management and administration.  Competitions explored topics like business finance services, marketing communications, entertainment marketing, event entrepreneurship and human resource management.

• In the Business Finance Series at the San Diego DECA MiniCon Evan Lee from Torrey Pines placed third, Danika Balden from Torrey Pines placed second and Asmi Sinha from Canyon Crest Academy came in first. (CCA DECA)

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  Lauren Wang from CCA placed third in the Human Resource Management Series, Emily Geng from CCA placed second and Makenna Marlaire from La Costa Canyon took first. (CCA DECA)

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  Marketing Communications Series winners: third place Helen Afshar from CCA, second place Damien Bae from CCA and first place winner Yash Parikh from Del Norte. (CCA DECA)

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  Sports and Entertainment Marketing Series third place winner Olivia Lee from La Costa Canyon, in second place Yashu Surineni from CCA and first place winner Chloe Katz from La Costa Canyon. (CCA DECA)

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  Winners in the Entrepreneurship Series at the San Diego DECA MiniCon were CoraRae Jackson from Torrey Pines in third,
  Ruchika Kench from Del Norte in second and Eva Cato from Torrey Pines in first. (CCA DECA)

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  Canyon Crest Academy DECA officer team Aadi Jariwala, Aarav Sinha, Jenna Huang, Kaelyn Liu, Margaret Zhang, Megan Zhou, Nicole Chen, and Sabine Chung, Canyon Crest Academy DECA advisor Brian Baum and Socal District Action Team Robert Flores, Rini Nayak, and Kyra Zhang.

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  Presidents of Canyon Crest Academy and the hosts of the San Diego DECA Conference, Margaret Zhang and Kaelyn Liu (CCA DECA)

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In the Business Finance Series at the San Diego DECA MiniCon Evan Lee from Torrey Pines placed third, Danika Balden from Torrey Pines placed second and Asmi Sinha from Canyon Crest Academy came in first. (CCA DECA)

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Parent volunteers served as judges and the CCA DECA chapter also invited local professionals to speak about their careers and potential business pathways.

“I believe that the San Diego conference was successful because of the dedication that all the chapter presidents from the eight high schools had when preparing for this event. Each officer was able to help and engage in this rigorous process of planning this conference, and helped out whenever we needed an extra hand,” said Margaret Zhang, the president of CCA DECA. “This conference also gave all chapter members the ability to learn what DECA is about, how competition works, as well as giving the students the ability to build connections from different schools and branch out in the San Diego community.

Not only did the San Diego Miniconference create a bigger and closer community of students interested in business, it gave San Diego DECA a legacy in the California DECA community.”