Ensign College transformed into a hub of business and entrepreneurship talent on February 2, 2024, as the school hosted the annual Utah DECA State Career Development Conference. Eight schools and 150 students from across Utah participated in the all-day event, in which students competed in business-focused events, including financial analysis, sales presentations, marketing, event planning, and business strategy.
DECA is an international career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in business management, finance, hospitality, marketing, and other business fields. Top performers at the Utah state qualifier event will advance to the International Career Development Conference this spring.
Dale Pollard from the Utah DECA Board congratulated all participants for “having the courage to show up and try. You’re separating yourselves as doers and tryers.”
Two Ensign students learned the value of this statement first-hand. Adela Tello and Sadie Angeles had never participated in DECA before, but they had just joined Business Club and knew the competition would look good on their resumés. They almost dropped out at the last minute, but “we made a commitment,” Adela said. “We are passionate about social media, so we decided to stay in.” The team’s courage was rewarded with first-place medals in the Digital Marketing Strategies event.
Ensign College DECA advisor Brent Andrus is proud of his team. Ensign had 31 students participate, 24 of whom were first-time participants. “We hold our own against these bigger schools. Our project- and experience-based learning model is a big part of our success.”
Brother Andrus says of the competition, “It’s like payday. You see students work and work on projects and preparation, and this is the payoff. It’s amazing to see the culmination of all their work.”
Want to get involved? Check out our Business Club!
Here are the Ensign students who placed in their events:
Financial Statement Analysis
First Place, team of Abraham Olivares, Blair Adamson, and Spencer Tidwell
Third Place, team of Yushin Liu, Jacob Sanchez, and Nicholas Araujo
Digital Marketing Strategies
First Place, Team of Sadie Angeles and Adela Tello
Third Place, Juliana Cortes
Fashion Merchandising and Marketing
First Place, Gabriela Gaytan
Marketing Communications
Second Place, team of Gabriela Gaytan and Heidi Turner
Human Resource Management
Second Place, Joshua Sommer
Professional Sales
Second Place, Gabriela Gaytan
Business to Business Marketing
Second Place, team of Alejandro Gonzalez and Ivan Ribeiro
Financial Accounting
Second Place, Nicholas Araujo
Event Planning
Second Place, team of Barbara Alves and Mariel Lopez
Advertising Campaign
Second Place, team of Skyler Hall, Lorena Cunha, and Michelle Villalva
Entrepreneurship: Starting a Business
Second Place, Cindy Toledo
Fifth Place, Valentina Vega
Retail Management
Third Place, Lorena Cunha
Sales Management and Leadership
Third Place, Alejandro Gonzalez
Entrepreneurship: Operations
Third Place, Rebeca Acevedo
Fourth Place, Mariel Lopez
Corporate Finance
Fourth Place, Juliana Cortes
Marketing Management
Fourth Place, Joshua Sommer
International Marketing
Fourth Place, team of Nazaret Abellan and Bianca Lucas
Business Ethics
Fourth Place, team of Nazaret Abellan and Bianca Lucas
Fifth Place, Team of Rebeca Acevedo and Bat-Orkhon Batmagnai
Congratulations to the winners and to all participants for their efforts and enthusiasm, and for going above and beyond the average.