Eight Hamilton High School students will advance to international competition after qualifying March 11-13 at the annual state Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) Career Development Conference in Lake Geneva. The following students qualified for international competition in Atlanta in late April:
- Emily Rindfleisch and Sonya Ruminski, first place, buying and merchandising;
- Cody Ellis, second place, public speaking;
- Halley Greeneway and Holly Rindfleisch, fourth place, travel and tourism marketing;
- Kyle McClone and Chris McCormick, fourth place, financial analysis; and
- Ryan Zahn, sixth place, restaurant management.
This was the third straight year the chapter brought home at least one first place award. In addition, Alex Woodington received first place in state for the virtual business retailing competition.
Hamilton also was honored for earning several chapter awards including::
- Outstanding Gold Chapter;
- Diamond Level Membership;
- School Based Enterprise Gold Re-Certification;
- Top Five Award for Muscular Dystrophy Association contributions; and
- Coins for Campers .
In addition to international qualifiers, DECA members Shane Kelly, Jared Omick, Sam Mulkey, Shawn Lena, Chris Ebsen and Mitch Meuller also competed at the state competition.
Business education teacher Skip Hay is the Hamilton DECA advisor. DECA is an association for students interested in marketing, management and entrepreneurship that provides opportunities to compete in more than 50 categories related to business career development.