Durango High School DECA members win at state

First-place winners for Community Service Project at the 2017 Colorado DECA State Leadership Conference are, from left, Durango High School DECA members Anna Joslin and Ruby Epstein. Their partner, Jenna Engelken, had a prior commitment but plans to join them in Anaheim, Calif., for the international conference.

Courtesy of David Dillman

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First-place winners for Community Service Project at the 2017 Colorado DECA State Leadership Conference are, from left, Durango High School DECA members Anna Joslin and Ruby Epstein. Their partner, Jenna Engelken, had a prior commitment but plans to join them in Anaheim, Calif., for the international conference.

Courtesy of David Dillman

First-place winners for the Marketing Management Team Decision Making Event at the 2017 Colorado DECA State Leadership Conference are Durango High School DECA members and siblings Paxton and Abby Scott.

Courtesy of David Dillman

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First-place winners for the Marketing Management Team Decision Making Event at the 2017 Colorado DECA State Leadership Conference are Durango High School DECA members and siblings Paxton and Abby Scott.

Courtesy of David Dillman

Nearly 3,000 DECA members competed for top honors at the 2017 Colorado DECA State Leadership Conference, which was held at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs from Feb. 25 to 28.

Courtesy of David Dillman

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Nearly 3,000 DECA members competed for top honors at the 2017 Colorado DECA State Leadership Conference, which was held at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs from Feb. 25 to 28.

Courtesy of David Dillman

Eight Durango High School students qualified to compete at the DECA International Career Development Conference after excelling at the Colorado DECA Conference.

DECA is a club for emerging leaders in marketing, management, hospitality, finance and entrepreneurship, advisor David Dillman said.

More than 3,000 of Colorado’s 8,500 DECA Club participants gathered at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs at the end of February to compete in more than 40 events, including both written and verbal presentations and role-playing. Twenty-one Durango High DECA Club members competed.

Those who ranked in the top 6 percent of contestants qualified to go to the international conference at the end of April in Anaheim, California.

The qualifiers are:

Ruby Epstein, Anna Joslin and Jenna Engelken: first place for their Community Service Project Kill-a-Watt.Paxton and Abby Scott: first place for their Marketing Management Team Decision Making.Tanus Yoder: second place in Fashion Merchandising Promotion Plan.Justin Cleary: second place in Financial Consulting.Harry Steinberg and Paxton Scott, second place for their Independent Business Plan.Abby Scott, fourth place in Advertising Campaign, for her proposal for the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.Jenna Beckley and Olivia Guerra received special recognition for their Innovation Plan, and Jenna also received special recognition for her presentation in Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling.

In addition to placing in two events, junior Abby Scott will be Durango High School’s first state representative as she was elected to represent District 10.

abutler@durangoherald.com