DECA winners

Over 60 PHS students earned honors and awards at the annual DECA District competition last week – beating schools from the area in the largest district contest in the state. These teens will be headed to the State competition later this semester.

Students spend weeks preparing their presentations before the big event. For senior Edwin Rueda, this will be his first time attending the State competition. "The event I participated in was the restaurant and food service management series, I did it because it reminded me of my dad," said Rueda. "My dad works downtown in a restaurant called Prime 47. I just love the restaurant aspect, and I  want to do something related to that. Restaurant and food management sounded like the right fit."

Rueda added that his favorite part of DECA was "the district competition. I love how you get to interact with different people you never got to interact with," he said. "The food was pretty nice; they offered pizza and Chick-Fil-A. Overall, the judges were absolutely awesome. They were so nice, and it was a nice setting to be around."

Now preparing for the state competition on March 2nd-4th, Rueda has started studying hard using  his best study methods. "I've been looking at some previous role play events that are under this event. That's also what I was doing during the district competition; looking at previous examples so I could learn that vocabulary, learn what to do to prepare and take more time to study." 

Story by Ruth Craig

Edited by Seyla Ray