Hartland High School students were successful at a recent DECA conference, with two of the students named as state officers and 34 students earning state championships.

The Hartland Community School district sent 145 students to join over 4,000 of their peers from across the state to compete in the 73rd Annual DECA Career Development Conference, which was held at COBO Hall in Detroit this past weekend. The conference offered students the opportunity to demonstrate their acquired skills in a business simulation environment.

At the conference, Hartland student Kyle Zacharias was voted in as the new DECA President for the State of Michigan and Jordan Barker was voted in as the Vice President of Business Partnerships. 34 Hartland DECA students earned State Championships, which allows them to compete for the DECA International Finals in Orlando, Florida April 26th through May 1st. Zacharias and Barker will attend the International Career Development Conference as state officers in addition to being qualifiers for the championship as well.

The process to run for a state officer position is said to be quite time consuming and a lot of work. Zacharias and Barker had help from four Hartland teachers; Jamie Riley, Nathan Oake, Anne Hasseld and Stephanie Ritter. Zacharias and Barker will represent 8,500 DECA students in the state of Michigan and the 215,000 members nationwide. Currently DECA has more than 225,000 members in 5,000 high schools from all 50 states and nine countries.

The organization prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges from around the world.