Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Four Howell High School DECA students are heading to the DECA International competition next month after being named state champions at the Michigan DECA Competition.

Nolan Hudnut and Marco Sanchez were named state champions in the Buying and Merchandising event while Jackson Vohwinkle and Sean Mitchell earned top honors in the Sports and Entertainment Marketing event.

The DECA international competition will be held in Anaheim, California, April 27-30th.

The students named state finalists were Ethan Keider and Landon Hund in the Entrepreneurship event and Samantha Vanwinkle and Morgan Tyrpak in the Hospitality Services event. While those students will not advance to the international competition, officials say earning medals in highly competitive events is still a great accomplishment. In total, 34 Howell High School students competed in the state competition.

To reach the state competitions, students had to compete in a district competition within a five-county area consisting of Livingston, Washtenaw, Lenawee, Jackson, and Ingham Counties. DECA competitions challenge participants to take a comprehensive exam and present a dynamic case study tailored to industry-specific scenarios.

DECA is a high-energy organization designed to prepare students to be college and career-ready upon graduation. It has over 225,000 members in 5,000 high school chapters from all 50 states and nine countries. Students gain experience through interactive classroom activities and by attending DECA Conferences throughout the school year.

Main photo from left: Marco Sanchez and Nolan Hudnut
Second photo from left: Jackson Vohwinkle and Sean Mitchell