Within in the past year, the OHS DECA club has doubled in size, having over 30 members this year. With that growth also came success in the recent competitions.

After competition at the regional level at Saint Louis University on Feb. 8, 18 out of 26 students were awarded the chance to move onto State to showcase their marketing, management, and enternaupership skills. Fourteen attended State in Kansas City, MO on March 11-13.

“I felt excited to have the opportunity to go to state and it was a really great experience for me,” new member Emily Merritt (10) said.

After two long days of presenting their work to multiple judges at State, the pair of Sierra Uko (12) and Sean Maltagliati (12) in the Creative Marketing Project were announced as National qualifiers and were to move onto the competition that will be held in Atlanta, Georgia on April 20-25. While Maltagliati is unable to attend, Uko is determined to take the team onto the National level.

“It was amazing to find out that I was moving onto nationals,” Uko said. “After three years of being in DECA and FBLA it feels like the numerous competitions I went to and experience I gained, finally paid off.”