Twenty-eight members of the Upper School’s DECA chapter will travel to Orlando, Florida to compete in the annual International Career Development Conference (ICDC) from April 25-28.

“ICDC is the culminating event for the DECA year,” Juston Glass, DECA advisor and director of Harker’s Business and Entrepreneurship program, said. “The cream of the crop come from all over the world, whatever their competitive event is, whether it’s finance, marketing, hospitality, tourism, business management, roleplays or the same categories within their written events.”

This year, three Upper School teams were announced as finalists in the Stock Market Challenge in January and will be recognized at ICDC. The team of David Lin (12) and Safia Khouja (12) has the highest total equity in the entire competition; the team of Aaron Huang (12), Steven Wang (12) and Leo Yu (12), and the team of Alex Tuharsky (12) and Ashwath Thirumalai (12), are also ranked in the top rung of the Western region.

DECA President Savi Joshi recounts her experiences as a member and officer as she reaches the end of an era.

“I always go in with the mindset, ‘Work hard. Expect nothing. Accept everything,’” Savi said. “I’m gonna cry; It’s hard to internalize that four years of putting your life into a chapter is coming to a close, but it’s also a good indication that it’s time to let go. It’s bittersweet, and I have full faith in [next year’s leadership] Sophia [Luo] (11) and Shannon [Hong] (11) to take Harker DECA to new heights of competitive success.”

DECA Director of Technology Alexis Gauba (10) reminisced about her first time attending ICDC last year as a freshman.

“We don’t just get to compete, we get to experience a city with many peers from all around the globe,” Alexis said. “I recall last year in Atlanta the streets were full of ICDC attendees and different groups would just shout across the street to others asking where they were from and making DECA diamonds.”

Harker winners at last year’s ICDC included Nihal Uppugunduri (’14) and Alex, who placed first in the the Stock Market Challenge; David Zhu (10) and Peter Wu (10), who placed fifth in the Virtual Business Challenge; Julia Fink (’14), who placed in the top 20 for Apparel and Accessories Marketing and Raymond Xu (10), who placed in the top 20 in Principles of Finance.

Additionally, out of approximately 20,000 participants in grades four to 12, Manthra Panchapakesan (12) was recognized for placing first statewide and third nationally in the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) InvestWrite essay contest.

Harker DECA’s events will come to a close with final banquet in May to recognize the members, and to thank parents and faculty for their support.

According to its website, DECA plans to host ICDC next year in Nashville, Tennessee, and in Anaheim, California, in 2017.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on April 22, 2015.