Franklin DECA Takes Home Awards at States

DECA President Isaac Nelson and Vice President Steven Lutazzi hold the Franklin DECA flag

DECA President Isaac Nelson and Vice President Steven Lutazzi hold the Franklin DECA flag

Joe Clark, Sports Editor

On the weekend of March 8th-March 10th, 26 members of the Franklin High School DECA club headed to the Marriott Copley Place in downtown Boston for the 2018 Massachusetts DECA State Career Conference. At the event, students attended leadership and networking conferences, heard from guest speakers, and most importantly, presented their projects. Projects ranged from developing marketing plans for local businesses, promoting entrepreneurship, and creating their own ideas for an independent business. Students also had free time during the day, where they could attend seminars hosted by industry professionals.

The club also took home some awards, none more notable than Arun Kavishwar and Saketh Saripalli taking home third place in the Individual Business Plan Competition, which clinched them a spot in the International Competition in Atlanta from April 21-25. Michael Gallo and Sidhartha Charganti also finished in the top 10 in the Individual Business Plan Competition, finishing in 7th place. The team of Joe Clark, Isaac Nelson, and Steven Luttazzi finished 6th in the Entrepreneurship Promotion Plan category, while Kyle Cournoyer finished 8th in the Business Growth Plan category.

The awards are significant for the club, as it shows the hard work students put into their projects all year. To qualify for the event in Boston, students had to perform well at the District event held at the Holiday Inn in Mansfield, MA. In addition, they worked tirelessly all year long, meeting multiple times a week after school in order to try to move onto Atlanta. The #1 thing the club hopes to achieve with this showing is future growth in the club, as they hope to achieve the numbers that surrounding schools such as King Philip, Algonquin, or Westford Academy achieve, who all routinely send 100s of kids to the event in Boston. The 2017-2018 year was a very successful year for Franklin’s DECA club, and it looks to improve even more with the ICDC in Atlanta. If you are interested in joining DECA next year, you can see Mr. Carmo or email him at [email protected].