Lambert High School’s DECA chapter recently returned from an impressive showing at the 2024 Georgia DECA State Career Development Conference (SCDC) held February 1-3 in Atlanta. The conference welcomed over 4,000 of Georgia’s top DECA members to compete in business and marketing-focused events including testing, roleplays and written manuals.
“There’s a lot of prep that goes into it,” Lambert DECA advisor Ms. Mazzei explained. “Students get to work with our sites like DECA+, we do roleplay seminars and practices, manual check-ins during class, practice presentations and all that fun stuff.”
This year, 131 Longhorns attended SCDC with 68 of them winning awards that qualified them for DECA’s International Career Development Conference (ICDC). The International Career Development Conference gathers over 22,000 of DECA’s highest-achieving members from all across the globe to compete at the international level for coveted titles. The 2024 conference will be held April 27-30 in Anaheim, California.
“I’m very proud of all of our students and all the hard work that they put into it,” Mazzei said. “It’s well earned and deserved.”
Lambert Senior Christina Song competed with her team in the Integrated Marketing Campaign – Product event and placed first at the state conference for the second year in a row.
“The time and effort I invested in DECA since my sophomore year made it feel worthwhile to qualify for internationals and receive the glass trophy I had dreamed of,” Song said. “I had so much fun in DECA networking with students and marketing professionals around the world.”
Lambert DECA also had an exceptional student honored at the conference. Senior Karlie Kandul, who serves as the Executive President of Georgia DECA, received the $1,000 Georgia DECA Scholarship. The Georgia DECA Foundation awards scholarships to deserving students to recognize personal achievements and provide financial assistance to emerging leaders in the business field.
“I’m so excited because it’ll really help me in my college pursuit,” Kandul explained.
In addition to individual awards, Lambert DECA took home several chapter-wide wins for their outstanding achievements over the past year. They were awarded the third largest chapter in the state, the Diamond Level Chapter Award for their campaigns, and the Olympian Level Community Service Award, which only five schools in Georgia achieved. Their school-based enterprise programs also received honors with The Lambert Branding Company earning Gold Level recertification and The Lambert Printing Company earning their Gold Level certification. Additionally, Lambert DECA earned Thrive Level recognition for their work on the national level in community service, promotional campaigns and membership campaigns.
With another successful SCDC behind them, Lambert DECA is excited to be advancing to the International Career Development Conference in the spring. After sweeping awards across individual and chapter events, the Longhorns are ready to make their mark representing Georgia DECA on the global stage at ICDC 2024.
