Ark Valley News - DECA team does well at regionals

The DECA students are (front from left) Tristan Mitzel, Lucas Mathewson, Caleb Carter, Jace Crass, Jared McDonald, Trevor Reed, Katherine Thomas, (back from left) Kaeli Gard, Mariah Behrns, Sydney Martens, Danielle Somers, Derek Dunn, Chase LaMastres and Derrick Foster.

DECA team does well at regionals
By Emmie Boese
Last Updated: February 01, 2018

The Valley Center High School DECA team did well at regional competition.

The Hornets competed at Newman University on Jan. 25. The team produced some good results. Their sponsor is Michael Moseley, who is a business teacher at the high school.

Despite not having as many people compete at regionals this year, Moseley was impressed with how the team performed.

"Going into the awards ceremony, you get kind of down because, well, you only had 14 people compete, but we had 11 of those 14 people medal," said Moseley.

The students who placed in the top three in their event will have an opportunity to compete at state in Overland Park in March.

"We had a couple of first-year DECA people take first place," said Moseley.

Placing first and qualifying for state were Katherine Thomas (Entrepreneurship), Jace Crass (Principles of Business Management and Administration), Chase LaMastres (Personal Financial Literacy) and Tristan Mitzel (Restaurant and Food Service Management).

Placing second and qualifying for state were Sydney Martens (Apparel and Accessories Marketing), Lucas Mathewson (Automotive Services Marketing), Jared McDonald (Food Marketing), Kaeli Gard (Hotel and Lodging Management) and Mariah Behrns (Human Resources Management).

Placing third and qualifying for state were Derek Dunn (Hotel and Lodging Management) and Danielle Somers (Principles of Hospitality and Tourism).

Moseley was also impressed with his four officers — Mathewson, Gard, Behrns and Mitzel, who placed second or higher.

"I was really excited about this year," Moseley added.