(NOTE:
via Dave Herndon, The News-Herald Newspapers)
Amario
Massey will live on in Truman High School history.
He
recently travelled to Anaheim, California to compete in the International DECA
Conference. Not only was he the first Truman student to ever place, but he
finished in the top two in his event among all the students who compete in DECA
worldwide.
Three
other Truman students also went to the competition, but they only attended
various training academies, rather than compete with the thousands of students
who were there. Those students were Sara Sherazi, Kirsten Collett and Junaid
Syed.
Massey
competed in the hotel and lodging management division.
He
earned the honor of attending the international conference by qualifying at the
DECA State Career Development Conference, held in March at Cobo Center in
Detroit.
At
the international conference he was given two different role play activities
and a test, each was scored independently of the others for a total of three
potentials honors to be earned.
Massey
knows he finished in the top two for one of the role-play activities, but won’t
find out his final standings for another few weeks.
“I
know it was for one of the role-plays, but not which one,” he said.
The
role-play activities require the student to read over a scenario, and then act
out how they would fix it to the customer and the fictional hotel’s satisfaction.
They are only given about 10 minutes to figure out their course of action.
Massey
also got a $750 scholarship for his efforts.
The
other three each received scholarships from DECA to cover the cost of attending
the conference, but all had to fund their own trips to the conference.
There
were several different learning academy opportunities and each student went to
a different one so they could bring back information and training to their
classmates.
“This
really is a great learning opportunity for them,” Truman marketing teacher and
DECA advisor Carly Lundgren-Barnard said. “They all learned a lot from this
trip.”
Massey
served as the DECA president, and Sherazi as the vice president for the year.
“I’ve
already got my project picked out for next year,” Sherazi, a junior, said. “I want
to win.”
The
other three students are all seniors and will graduate out of the program.
The
conference, held April 26-29 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California,
drew over 19,000 DECA members from across the globe who competed in projects.
DECA
is an international organization that prepares students in marketing,
management and entrepreneurship.
