Kettering University students took high honors at the 2012 Collegiate DECA's (Delta Epsilon Chi’s) State Career Development Conference in Battle Creek Feb. 3-5.

Thirteen Kettering students captured 12 awards, including two first places, two second places, one third place and seven honorable mentions.  The winners and their competition categories are: 

First Place
Tyler Finnegan (senior in Mechanical Engineering and Business) in Corporate Finance
Deana Johnson (senior in Business) in Human Resources
 
Second Place
Michael Colando (junior in Mechanical Engineering) and Kaitlyn Just (junior in Business) in
Business to Business Marketing
Alex Masters and Michael Woznicki (both juniors in Business) in Entrepreneurship
 
Third Place
Tyler Finnegan (senior in Mechanical Engineering and Business) in Marketing Management
 
Honorable Mentions (4th-7th places)
Deana Johnson (senior in Business) in Restaurant and Food Marketing and Management
Kaitlyn Just (junior in Business) in Retail Management
Chelcee Lawrence (junior in Chemical Engineering) in Marketing Management
Alex Masters (junior in Business) in Corporate Finance)
Sarah McClure (junior in Applied Math) in Fashion Merchandising
Jacob Sherwood (freshman in Mechanical Engineering) in Executive Job Interview
Michael Woznicki (junior in Business) in Retail Management

Kettering’s chapter went head-to-head against students from University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Michigan Tech, Valparaiso University, Grand Valley, Central Michigan, Northwood, Davenport (Grand Rapids), Delta College and Grand Rapids Community College. Each year Kettering students earn some of the highest honors at this event.

At the conference, students took exams, solved current and practical business case study problems, wrote business plans, and role-played with industry judges. Of the13 Kettering students who competed this year, seven were new to the competition and had never competed before at Collegiate DECA.

Kettering students are now qualified to attend the International Collegiate DECA Career Development Conference in Salt Lake City, April 20 -26.
 
Collegiate DECA is a student organization focused on developing future business leaders. The four cornerstones of DECA are career awareness, civic consciousness, social intelligence, and leadership development with competitive events in: Business, Design, Entrepreneurship, Finance & Accounting, Food Service & Culinary, Hospitality & Travel, Information Technology, Management, and Marketing & Sales.  Besides the annual State and International Career Development Conferences in the spring, Collegiate DECA also sponsors a Leadership Conference in the fall.
 
Kettering students raise funds by selling snacks in the Department of Business lobby. The money helps to offset the registration fees and travel money needed to attend the conferences. To find out more about the chapter, contact Professor Karen Cayo at kcayo@kettering.edu