By Dylan Whiting 

From March 9 to 11,  49 Hopedale DECA members competed and participated in the 63rd Annual Massachusetts DECA State Career Development Conference in Boston at the Marriott Copley and Hynes Convention Center.  

With close to 3,300 participants statewide, Hopedale students competed against up to 45 competitors per category! The National Anthem was sung by Hopedale Jr. Sr. High School’s Acapella group of Madeline Hodgdon, Vinny Kaushik, Samantha Madigan, Thomas McSweeney, Ahaan Singh, Cameron Whiting!  Recordings of live sessions can be viewed on massachusettsdeca.org/scdc.  

All Massachusetts competitors qualified for the competition by placing in the top 6 for their events at one of 9 district competitions throughout the state. One competitive area in which Hopedale DECA students found success was the project management series of events where competitors used project management skills to organize real events like a financial literacy fair and career development fair for students in grades 9 - 12, a STREAM activities fair for elementary students, and therapy dog sessions for nurses at a local hospital. 

In the Operations Research category, competitors prepared a strategic plan and presentation for a service provided by a business after extensive research. Hopedale competitors learned and practiced valuable business and interpersonal skills that they will take with them and apply as they progress through their high school and college careers. 

Overall, Hopedale DECA had For a comprehensive list of all competitors and their achievements, please visit bit.ly/3mXCRT3.  

Top 10 medalists at the conference included:

Buying and Merchandising: Brendan Kracinovich, Jackson Phillips, Ryan Reynolds

Hospitality and Tourism: Matt Carroll, Emma Gosselin, Antonia Rolo

Career Development: William Adamski, Kyle Maloney, Camden Parker

Community Awareness: Madeline Hodgdon, Taralyn Moore, Thomas McSweeney

Sales: Sejal Abraham, Lauren Montville, Anthony Ferrucci

Personal Financial Literacy: Robert Minichiello

Financial Consulting: Cameron Whiting

Accounting Applications: Cody McLain

Hopedale DECA would like to thank the people who made attending the state conference possible, including our officer team, who worked tirelessly to organize and prepare for the event; DECA members and competitors, who put in an incredible amount of time and effort to study; parents and guardians who supported their children in this extracurricular success; the 2023 Sponsors of Hopedale DECA, who dramatically reduced costs and expenses for the event; Learning Express of Westborough, Leonardo DRS, Synergy Waste Management, and Target for their Gold level sponsorships; and, of course, our chapter advisor, Talitha Oliveri, who spent hours upon hours tirelessly working to coordinate and execute the state championship .  

Moving on to the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) are 20 Hopedale students bound for Orlando in April! State Champions competing in Orlando and members participating in the Emerging Leaders Academy from April 22-25 are as follows:

Project Management Event Champions

Financial Literacy: Ryan Hayes, Ahaan Singh, Vinny Kaushik

Business Operations Research Event Champions

Business Services:  

Team 1: Charlie Dietrich, Luke Tamoush, Tyler Wilke

Team 2:  Kenzie Styles, Aaron Terbush

Individual Champions

Food Marketing: Leah Hodgdon

LEADERSHIP ACADEMY Orlando Participants! 

Thrive Leadership Academy: Dylan Whiting, Alex Goode, Riley Mulligan, Matt  Carroll, Will Adamski, Kyle Maloney, Cody McLain

Aspire Leadership Academy: Thomas McSweeny, Taralyn Moore, Madeline Hodgdon, Brendan Kracinovich

To help make the cost of ICDC more manageable, Hopedale DECA is looking for sponsorships and donations from local businesses and individuals to offset trip expenses. Please reach out to Talitha Oliveri, advisor, at [email protected] with any questions. Donations can be mailed to Hopedale Jr.-Sr. High School, 25 Adin St, Hopedale, MA, 01747 or via UniPay at https://unipaygold.unibank.com/, Hopedale Public Schools, DECA Competition/Sponsorships. Thank you for your consideration in helping our students reach their fullest potential!