**Update**

DECA students competed at the DECA State Career Development Conference and Competition in Dallas on Feb. 21-22 and  several will advance to the DECA International Career Development Conference and Competition In Atlanta, Georgia this May. These students include:

Tiffany Wong in Hotel and Lodging Management Series Event

Eddy DeLaGarza in International Business Plan

Sara Samani in Business Services Operations Research

Cedar Park’s business and marketing club known as DECA competed at the annual District Five Conference on Jan. 18 at Cleburne High School in Cleburne, TX.

Fifteen students advanced to state, including all DECA officers: President senior Ariane Simondet and Vice-Presidents senior Brandon Quick, senior Mason Berk, junior Sara Samani and junior Lauren Kriss.

Returning members also advancing to state are seniors Tiffany Wong, Alyssa Phillips and Eddy De La Garza. Junior Mauricio Degregori will also attend the State Career Development Conference in Dallas, TX Feb. 20-22.

Also attending the conference are first-year members sophomore Jack Merill and juniors Alex Cuteri, Daniel Matas, Alyssa Cepeda and Christina Lanzoni and senior Rebecca Brown.

For Matas, his first competition was stressful.

“Competing for the first time was hard because I had never presented and idea to a judge before that was watching my every move,” Matas said.

Equally inexperienced, Cepeda was also nervous to compete.

“I have never taken any business classes or tried anything that involved competing before, but it was awesome being a first timer and advancing to state,” Cepeda said.

Simondet, who is planning on majoring in Marketing and minoring in International Business at college next year, was more relaxed at competition this year.

“It’s my second year competing so I knew what to expect, which made me feel less anxious,” Simondet said.

Although Simondet is confident, she still plans on preparing more for state.

“I will be preparing for State by working with our adviser Kimberley Stapleton and studying the marketing textbooks,” Simondet said.

Along with his partners Degregori and Cuteri, Matas will be perfecting his competition paper.

“My group and I need to focus on the aesthetics of our paper and really fix it up to get the most points we can,” Matas said.