Photo submitted SMAHS students attended the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) held in Anaheim, Calif., where they competed and attended leadership workshops.

By Amy Cherry

Staff Writer

St. Marys Area High School DECA students completed their competitive season at the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) held in Anaheim, Calif.

DECA is an association of marketing students and features state and international conferences each year, along with numerous opportunities to learn more about the various aspects of the business world.

Several students advanced to the international conference in California, after placing at the Annual State Career Development Conference at the Hershey Lodge held from Feb. 18-20.

Raj Thaker and Josh Krise competed in Business Law and Ethics in California. The pair placed third at states. Both are juniors while Krise is a first-year member and Thaker a second-year member. Raj is the son of Upendra and Bharhti Thaker and Josh is the son of Beth and Steve Krise.

SMA Chapter President Abby Miller competed in Apparel and Accessories at the event. Miller took home fourth place in that category during the state conference. As a senior Miller was a two-year member of the DECA club. She is the daughter of Jean Farley.

Also attending the international conference were Cody Wickett, Jacob Lindenmuth and SMA DECA Vice-President Julia Hoffman, all of whom attended leadership workshops at the event.

According to the DECA organization 15,000 members, advisors, businesspersons and alumni attend the international conference each year.

In addition, Erik Dauber placed in the top in the Sports and Entertainment category at states.

Also at the state conference, Danielle Schneider was sworn in as the 2009-2010 DECA District 1 State Representative. This position was formerly held by Julia Hoffman.

Currently there are 62 DECA chapters in Pennsylvania with a membership of 3,300 students, alumni, teachers and business professionals.

 A total of 38 St. Marys Area students competed at the three-day state conference which included more than 1,400 students.

Chaperoning this year’s trip was DECA Chapter Advisor and State District 1 Advisor/Board Member Michelle Jackson along with Angie Catalone, the business teacher at St. Marys Area.

As part of their California trip students and chaperones visited Chapman University, Disneyland-California Adventure where they learned how to ride Segways and participated in a backstage tour, toured the city of Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.