Holmen Courier - Printable Version

Story originally printed in the Holmen Courier or online at www.holmencourier.com

Published - Monday, May 19, 2008

HHS shines at DECA event

Sara Weber, left, and Kayla Sullivan made the top 10 at the DECA International Career Development Conference.
Contributed photo

Some people might think the 25 DECA students and three advisers from Holmen High School went to Atlanta April 25-30 for some kind of spring break. While there was some fun involved, at also involved a work and learning, too, as these students were there for the International Career Development Conference, joining 14,000 students from places as close to home as Minnesota and as far as Guam.

The main purpose of the trip was to compete against the other 14,000 students with written projects or in the series events they’d worked on since September.

While they were in Atlanta, the students prepared for competition by presenting to a Wisconsin judge, a Holmen adviser and their roommates, all of whom offered advice on how to perfect the presentation.

The practice paid off for seven students who made it in the top 20. Christina DeBoer and the teams of Jamie Linberg and Annessia Xiong, Kayla Sullivan and Sara Weber and Brianna Wesley and Eryn Johnson, competed an additional day for the final round. Sullivan and Weber made it on the stage a second time by placing in the top 10.

On the first evening in Atlanta, the students attended a touring Broadway production of “The Lion King.” During some down time the next day, many of the Holmen students met a little boy and girl playing in the pool. This boy and girl just happened to be the actor and actress who played Simba and Nala in the “The Lion King.”

A last-minute addition to the trip was attending the NBA playoff game between the Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics. The underdog Hawks won the game the night Holmen attended.

“What an experience that was,” said senior Alyssa Dahl. “It was a great game!”

The Holmen students also toured Turner Field (home of the Atlanta Braves), The World of Coke and the Georgia Aquarium.

The students will begin preparing this summer and next fall for next year’s competition. Internationals will be held in Anaheim, Calif.

The students also are interviewing for DECA officer positions for next year’s officer team. This summer the selected officer team will begin planning the 2008-09 school year activities.