From Feb. 23 to Feb. 25, the LOHS International Marketing class competed at the State Career Development Conference (SCDC) against more than a thousand other Oregon students and, for the first time ever, every single LOHS competitor finalled in at least one event. The event was sponsored by Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) and was held at the Red Lion Hotel on the River Jantzen Beach in Portland. 

Finalists included: seniors Christine Wang, Dalia Liu, Michael Murray, Barton Zhuang, Caitlin Dougherty, Gabe Horwitz, Jake Archambo, Casey Graver, Brad Holmes, Madison Hirsch, Sarah Leach, Jenna Neumann, Cade Burby, Sullivan Draper and Sayeh Sanaee; juniors Clark Jones, Gabe Levy, Hunter Clarke, Nick Di Re, Scott Gevurtz, Lily Garrett, Lindy Hanson, Emery Mann, Lauren O’Toole, Phoebe Garrett and Emerson Smith; and sophomore Ji Reichle.

Students who are in the top three for roleplays and the top two for written events will be given the option to compete in an event at the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Nashville, Tennessee from from April 29 to May 2. 

Senior Christine Wang won first place in Entrepreneurship Business Growth Plan, third in Human Resources Management and fifth in Business Finance Services. 

“I mainly got involved with DECA because business economics is the major I want to pursue in college, so this was an experience that really did solidify my interest in my future profession,” Wang recalled.

“It was really fun because I met a lot of new, highly intelligent people who have the same interests in business/career development as me,” Wang continued. “I recommend that people do it because it is a competition that helps you learn to reason effectively and find solutions.”

Junior Clark Jones won third place in Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making, seventh in Marketing Communications Series and tenth in Entrepreneurship Franchise Business Plan.

“My partner Gabe Levy [who was also elected as a DECA State Officer] and I will be going to ICDC in Business Law and Ethics, which is an impromptu duo event,” Jones said. “We didn’t know what to do, and we were really thrown in there, but we were able to adapt to the situation and we came up with a pretty cool presentation.”

Senior Caitlin Dougherty won fourth place in Human Resources Management, fifth in Business Services Operations Research and seventh in Business Finance Services. 

“I loved it!” Dougherty said of the state competition. “I didn’t know how well I was going to do as I had just had oral surgery and was pretty sick, but I ended up placing in three events.”

When not in competition, Doughtery said, students spent time “bowling, preparing for other events and laser tagging.”