3 Marshall students place in top 10 at international DECA competition

From left, Marshall High School seniors Lauren Thomas, Katie Pointer and Cassie Hayes and sponsor Cara Posegate at the DECA international convention in Anaheim, Calif. The girls' project placed in the top 10 at the event, which was held in late April.
(Contributed photo)

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Teacher Cara Posegate said students must be in her marketing class at Saline County Career Center to join DECA, an international marketing, management and business association.

Last fall, the girls decided to work together on a creative marketing project, which required doing much research and writing a 30-page paper.

"We didn't understand what we were doing at first," Pointer said.

But the girls agreed that Posegate was an "awesome" advisor who helped coach them through the preparation and competition processes. She didn't do all the work, though.

"They came up with the idea on their own," Posegate said.

Hayes works at the MHS office, and she noticed the large number of new students at school, which led her to suggest a welcoming service for the Marshall community and schools as the group's project. Together girls conducted interviews with new students and counselors at school to develop their plan.

They proposed making "goodie bags" for all new students and community members. Plus, new students would be paired with "buddies," special classmates to help them adjust to their surroundings.

Along with the lengthy paper, the students also prepared a 10-minute presentation of their project, complete with visual aids, to be given in front of a judge. They had to wear formal business attire during the competition, "stockings and everything," Pointer said.

In February, the girls received first place at district DECA competition, which qualified them to compete at state competition. After earning third place at state, the team -- along with the Internet marketing plan by Jamie Pointer and Hannah Sandidge -- was bound for internationals.

The students and Posegate went to California for six days and missed four days of school. The district paid for the students' registration fees, hotel rooms and airfare, but they raised money for food and fun activities by selling Tupperware.

On one day of their trip, they went to Disneyland. But the best part of internationals was performing well.

"Hearing your name called in front of 13,000 people is pretty awesome," Hayes said.

Thomas agreed and added, "I started crying," when the results were announced.

Although marketing might not be in the girls' future -- Pointer plans to study pre-health in college, and both Thomas and Hayes are undecided about their majors -- they are glad for their experiences in DECA.

"Having confidence" in herself was lesson learned through DECA, Thomas said, along with "hard work pays off."

"I learned that having faith in yourself is the most important thing," Hayes added.

Contact Sydney Stonner at marshallbusiness@socket.net

On the Net:

www.deca.org