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DECA’s journey to and experiences at State!

WINNER WINNER Freshman Rylie Sanvido pauses as she collects her State Champion banner and 1st place trophy in Principles of Finance. Sanvido is Conifer’s 1st freshman to win the State Champion title. “As a freshman I have so much hope to get more involved with DECA and join leadership! really want to continue competing in DECA through my senior year,“ Sanvido said. photo by a. hall

WE MADE IT Juniors Mckenzie Dolph and Stella Barnes stand on stage to accept their award. After making it to DECA State, Dolph and Barnes qualified for the ICDC. “The best part was definitely qualifying for the ICDC because we didn’t expect it and even though we’re probably not going to go, it’s really exciting,” Dolph said. photo by a. hall first year DECA student, senior Kayla Fuller qualified in the top 7% of DECA competitors in two events. are

For 50 years, the Broadmoor, Colorado’s only 5-star hotel, hosted the top 3,000 business competitors at DECA State competition. Among those, 37 were students from Conifer’s DECA chapter, prepared to bring home the winning glass trophies.

“As a senior, I joined DECA on a whim to get experience in business marketing. I never expected to make it past the district level, let alone qualify for State,” Fuller said.

After finals, ten students walked off the awards stage in the top 5%, having earned a spot in the international competition in Orlando, Florida. Among the winners, Rylie Sanvido took home an additional title as being the first freshman at Conifer to be a State champion.

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DECA preparing for State!

“I think mock role plays are super valuable before State because it’s the only time we can practice and get feedback right there. At districts we get feedback on our score sheets but sometimes it’s not super detailed. Mock role plays make sure that every member knows some of their strengths

“It felt so cool to know that I was competing against the top people in Colorado but it was also very intimidating. There wasn’t a lot I could do. I just faked it until I made it, and somehow I ended up as a finalist,” junior Brooke Roller said. State competition held preliminaries and multiple rounds of business related competitions to determine top competitors. After multiple days, Conifer DECA had six students for written events and nine in role play to qualify as finalists. As a

“I didn’t expect to go to State because this is my first year and I was nervous about what it would be like, but it turned out to be amazing,” Sanvido said.