Hershey was the sight for the annual Pennsylvania DECA State Career Development Conference from Feb. 21-23.

Students competed amongst Pennsylvania’s finest, spanning over 3,300 students and 50 schools. Norwin sported a “swift” look, with all 4 officer positions and competing members of the trip being girls, the largest such group ever to be produced at Norwin. Mrs. Hawley chaperoned the group alongside longtime DECA adviser Mrs. Stumpf.

“It means a lot,” said DECA president and senior Anna Beresnyak. “Norwin is one of the smaller chapters in the state right now, so trying to build upon that, and also show representation at the state level for our school. Especially when we don’t have as big of a chapter, it means a lot in terms of making sure that our school does have a voice within the organization as a whole, and making sure that our students also have that support going forward at future state competitions.”

Beresnyak is a 4-year DECA member and has served as both Vice President (2023) and President this year. Beresnyak will attend Penn State University for Marketing in the fall.

“DECA as a whole from freshman year sparked my interest in marketing,” said Beresnyak. “Originally I was going to go for accounting, but marketing ultimately sparked my interest after competing in Principles of Marketing freshman year. So that solidified my major.”

On Wednesday, Feb. 21, students arrived at the Hershey Lodge with sights set on gold. The opening ceremony commenced and students participated in conferences with speakers, hosted by professionals,  which helped students become better informed on business and industry.

Thursday, Feb. 22, had an action-packed competition day for students, starting bright and early directly after breakfast. Students participated in two role-play scenarios for their categories. After, students sat through professional speakers once more. Lunch came and went, with students having the option of Hershey’s Chocolate World or the outlets in Hershey. Wrapping up the night, the event hosted a dance for students, in anticipation of Friday’s trophy ceremony.

Freshman Athena Daugherty was a participant for the first time this year at DECA. Against all odds, Athena won the 3rd place trophy for the event “Hospitality and Tourism,” and placed in the National event. Although she is not attending the national conference ICDC in San Diego, Athena was proud of her achievement.

“Overall DECA SCDC ‘24 was a great experience and I would encourage everyone to try to join DECA so they are prepared with the characteristics future employers look for,” said Daugherty. “You just have to be confident, open-minded, and strategic with responses. Anybody can make it to states but it takes a person with self-assurance to get to nationals.”

Junior participants Lauren Zona and Anna Morrow also took home medals for their event, Buying and Merchandising TDM (Team-Decision Making), in which they were teammates. The pair won their medals in the best roleplay and plan to continue in the club moving forward.

“It was so important to me,” said Zona on what it meant to score a medal. “It is such a competitive event and I’m thinking about marketing in College. Anna and I take marketing classes and studying quizlets the night before prepared us for success.”