UW-Stout will host the DECA District I Career Development Conference for the 51st straight year on Saturday, Jan. 7.
The event, organized and run by the UW-Stout Marketing and Business Education Association, is an applied learning experience for high school competitors and UW-Stout students.
The competition is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Memorial Student Center, followed by awards. An orientation for judges begins at 9 a.m.
Approximately 65 regional business and marketing professionals are needed as volunteer competition judges. To volunteer, register online.
Nearly 450 student participants from 20 area high schools are registered. The schools are:
Altoona, Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire Memorial, Eau Claire North, Elmwood, Glenwood City, Holmen, Hudson, La Crosse Central, La Crosse Logan, Alma Center Lincoln, Melrose-Mindoro, Menomonie, Northwestern, Plum City, Sparta, Stanley-Boyd, Superior, Tomah and West Salem.
They will compete in 19 individual and eight team events. Students’ skills are tested in business services, marketing management, hospitality and tourism, marketing strategy, retail sales and services, sports and entertainment marketing, financial services, and entrepreneurship.
Winners and runners-up in each category advance to the State Career Development Conference competition Monday, Feb. 27, to Wednesday, March 1, in Lake Geneva.
“The conference concurrently prepares the university’s marketing and business education majors to become teachers while benefiting high school competitors,” said Professor Urs Haltinner, director of UW-Stout’s doctorate degree in career and technical education and an event coordinator.
DECA has 215,000 members in 3,500 high school chapters and 275 collegiate chapters.
“DECA prepares youth for career pathways in marketing, business management and administration. It is the premier career and technical student organization serving marketing programs in high schools and colleges around the globe,” Haltinner added.
UW-Stout offers a bachelor’s degree program in marketing and business education as well as the most extensive array of career and technical education teaching degrees in the UW System.
The marketing and business education program is part of UW-Stout’s School of Education, which is in Heritage Hall. The near-50-year-old building is scheduled for major renovation after receiving priority approval from the UW System Board of Regents. The project is ranked No. 1 in the Chippewa Valley and No. 3 for UW System academic buildings.
For more information about the competition, contact Haltinner, haltinneru@uwstout.edu, 715-232-1493, or student conference co-coordinator Zach Malovrh, malovrhz1926@my.uwstout.edu. Malovrh, of Wausau, is a third-year marketing and business education major.
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