While the rest of the student body sits in class, members of the DECA organization that have qualified for state will compete for the chance to participate in DECA nationals. With a whopping 59 state qualifying members this year compared to the 49 that competed last year, the DECA organization in Owatonna has been growing.

For eight years, the Owatonna High School has run a school based enterprise, and this year, seniors Morgan Malo, Taylor Gaveske and Amber Holte will be recognized in Orlando at Nationals for achieving the Gold Level Certification for the club. A few other members qualified to go to Orlando including Ghoutham Manokar and Luke Bunkers, who paired up to play a personal finance game that took them straight to Nationals. “It’s really cool that we made it to the National conference. We spent a lot of time on the game, so its nice to know it wasn’t for nothing,” mentioned Manokar. The National competition bring together the best students from each state’s conference. With members from every state in the nation, the best pioneers of the business world will be meeting for another competition. Heading to Nationals this year from Owatonna will be Morgan Malo, Taylor Gaveske, Amber Holte, Ghoutham Manokar, Luke Bunkers and Jack Livingston, who qualified in the Financial Literacy role play event. DECA Advisor Scott Pierce said, “OHS DECA did very well at the state conference – the competition is extremely tough as many schools have classes that just teach to DECA events”

The OHS sent students into finals in ten different events, more than in past years. With most events having over 40 students competing, to reach finals, or even nationals, is quite the accomplishment. Congratulations to all of the students that competed at the state competition, and good luck to those heading to Nationals on April 24- 28th.