Business students from Irondequoit High School competed in the 2008 DECA State Career Conference Competition on Wednesday, March 7^th through Friday, March 9^th. The event took place at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center and had over 2,000 business students participating from schools around New York State.

There are more than 50 different competitive marketing events for students to participate in and learn about the field of marketing. Forty-one Irondequoit Business students traveled to the convention center to test their knowledge in their chosen event, which includes both team and individual events. Each of these students qualified to compete at the state level through their performance at the regional level or they prepared a 10-page manual to defend it in front of an industry expert as a direct entry.

Doug Cuddeback, an IHS junior, finished in 2^nd place in the Fashion Merchandising Promotion Plan written event and earned a trip to compete in the same event at the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Atlanta the last week in April. 13,000 business students from around the world will be in attendance for this event. Doug wrote a 10-page paper, took a 100-question test on the subject of Fashion Merchandising and Promotion, and then defended his paper in a 10-minute presentation to a judge who works in the industry.

IHS seniors Jesse Leonardo and Eric Oathout placed third in the Financial Analysis Team Decision Making event, also earning them a trip to Atlanta. The top five teams in this event qualified for the ICDC. Another team of IHS seniors also competed in this event as well. Matt Cameron and John Cordes took the 100-question test on the subject of financial analysis and completed a role-play scenario. Tallying together these two components of the event placed Matt and John in fifth place and the right to compete at ICDC as well.

Tyler Condello and Sam Kennedy competed in a month-long on-line competition titled, Virtual Business Retail. This simulation program tested these two IHS juniors on all aspects of running a retail business. Uploading scores instantly showed their performance against other students in the region. First and second place in the North Atlantic region of the country earns a trip to ICDC. Tyler and Sam finished in second place out of over 150 teams. This will be Condello and Kennedy’s second consecutive trip to the ICDC.

Condello, Kennedy, Oathout, Leonardo and Cuddeback all have an opportunity to earn $1,000 scholarships based on their performances at ICDC.

Other IHS Business Students who earned medals for either a top-ten test score, role-play score, top-ten overall score or multiple medals include the following students:

     Amy Skrip (senior) Accounting Applications

     James Eksten (junior) Automotive Services Marketing

     Carolyn Lavin (senior) Business Services Marketing

     Marcie Dineen (sophomore) Hotel & Lodging Management

     Alec Bonisteel (sophomore) Restaurant & Food Service Management

     Taylor Diem (freshman) Retail Merchandising

     Ashley King (senior) Advertising Campaign Written Event

     Juliana Feinberg (junior) International Business Written Event

     Barbara Bianchi (sophomore) Internet Business Plan Written Event

     Conor Young (senior) &

     Devin Smith (junior) Business Law & Ethics Team Decision Making

     Vincent Baccari (sophomore) Decision-Making Marketing

     Steve Ross (senior) Wholesale Selling