ATLANTA- WBHS DECA showed off its finest businessmen and businesswomen in “ATL” for the international competition consisting of over 18,000 DECA participants from around the world.

At the convention, WBHS DECA once again dominated their international competition by finishing with 3 virtual business groups and 2 30-page papers placing amongst the top in the world.

Virtual business is an online based business simulation provided by Knowledge Matters. Competitors are given a challenging business situation and expected to locate errors and make profit. The following teams placed:

#1 in Virtual Business Sports- Matthew Ladouceur and Brian Bembas

#4 in Virtual Business Hotel- Josh Carlin, Rei Mizuno and Kasper Zemajitis

#6 in Virtual Business Sports- David Martin, Sundeep Ravella and Sam Rudin

The following students earned top 20 in their paper category. Students are expected to write a paper on a specific aspect regarding a business. Paper topics range from Finance or Buying and Merchandising to people presenting on their own business ventures.

Vietress Feller, Dani Fink and Michelle Rudashevski

Lauren Gagnon, Kayla Zrepskey and Sydney Bruce

Atlanta was not all work and business for all 5 days, as students were able to venture out and experience an economic hub and historical city. Students and teachers visited Six Flags, the CNN headquarters, Coca Cola world headquarters, an Atlanta Brave’s game, and even an Andy Grammer concert at the brand new Mercedes Benz Stadium.

West Bloomfield DECA top 10 finalist Kayla Zreps y exclaimed that, “ICDC was an amazing experience! I made many new friendships while continuing to develop my business skills! It was unreal placing Top 10!” She continued, “My group worked really hard all year and it was so cool to see it pay off! My favorite part of the trip was going to 6 flags.”

Fashion Virtual Business competitor Jake Cohen shared that he “enjoyed meeting people from across the country and world. Being in DECA has allowed me to grow as a student and an individual.”

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