Apollo Junior Advances to State Finals in Minnesota DECA Competition

(KNSI) – A local student is making her mark in one of the country’s largest career and business competitions.

St. Cloud Apollo High School junior Shayla Gordon (left center) recently advanced to the finals at the Minnesota DECA state competition, placing her among the top 12 out of roughly 80 competitors in her event.

Gordon competed in the marketing communications series role play, where students are given a scenario on the spot and have 10 minutes to prepare before pitching their plan to a judge. She explained to KNSI News that her scenario involved rebuilding public trust for a luxury hotel chain after a plumbing issue sickened guests. “My big thing was to first off be fully transparent with the public on all the steps to fix the issue. And then also the big thing that I did was talking about having the luxury hotel focus on more community service and hosting charity events.”

Gordon is the second Apollo member in recent years to reach the state finals. Senior and chapter president Abby Petrowski (right center) made it last year and went on to compete at the DECA International Career Development Conference in Orlando. Gordon has her sights set on the same. “100%. I’ll be back. And hopefully I’ll go to nationals next year, following Abby’s footsteps.”

DECA is a career and technical student organization preparing students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. Petrowski feels the program has something to offer any student. “DECA definitely isn’t only for business students. There’s a lot of students on our team that aren’t planning to go into business in college. However, the skills that you learn in DECA can really be applied to any career path.”

Students can join DECA at the start of the school year, with competition registration closing in late November. This year’s team had 15 members, a big jump considering Petrowski and Gordon helped restart the program a couple of years ago.

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