Two seniors and DECA members, Richard Jacullo and Andreas Stamatakis, recently finished in the top 10 at this year’s Financial Services Team Decision Making event at DECA’s International Career Development Conference. More than 17,000 students from the U.S., Canada, Guam, Germany and Puerto Rico competed in the event, held in Atlanta.

Preparing them for this competition, the team of Jacullo and Stamatakis had earned prior awards for their work with DECA, a career and technical student organization that prepares business students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, management, and other business areas. The two students won first place in Suffolk County back in January, and finished second in New York State in March.

“This is the best finish internationally for Deer Park students in more than 10 years,” said business teacher Gregory Menig, the school’s DECA adviser. “Both boys were extremely motivated to make it to ICDC this year and decided back in September that working as a team might improve their chances of winning. The competitions consist of a multiple choice exam and a role-playing scenario, so they worked hard studying old exams and practicing role playing.”

Out of nearly 7,000 New York DECA members at the competition, Stamatakis was one of just 10 selected as an Emerging Leader, a special award recognizing DECA members for becoming academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders through participation in DECA.

Two other Deer Park DECA students also attended the ICDC. Taylor Price, who had finished second in Suffolk County and third in the state, competed in the retail merchandising event. Daniela Zabbatino, who was in the top 10 in Suffolk and earned a top 10 test score in New York State, was chosen to take part in DECA’s Senior Management Institute, which engages high school seniors in activities designed to prepare them to transition from high school to college and the business world.