This year the Distributive Education Clubs of America national competition had 15,000 students participating.

Whitman-Hanson Regional High School had two students that were qualified for the Nationals competition. Matthew Gronlund and Steven Nicoletta each participated in the competition that was held in Atlanta, Ga. from April 26-30.

Matthew Gronlund and Steven Nicoletta at the DECA competition in Atlanta.

The competition starts off with a grand opening session held in the Georgia Dome (the pro-football field), which was Saturday evening, and the event was concluded Tuesday evening with a grand award ceremony.

Gronlund attended the Leadership Development Academy. There were approximately 1,100 students from all over the county involved in leadership, explained advisor Nina Consolini.

The academy was a two-day program and students were broken up into group. They did role plays in different environments and they learn to lead, said Consolini.

It’s about role playing and team building, she said.

“He [Gronlund] really liked it,” said Consolini. “He thought it was great. Not only was he meeting people, but he definitely thought he was learning life skills he could use in college and then some.”

DECA is involved in teaching kids about community service and fundraising. The goal this year was to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Each group in Leadership Academy was pitted against each other to see who could raise the most money for MDA. The students raised $10,000.

Consolini said that Gronlund did well in the leadership academy.

Nicoletta participated in the sports and entertainment marketing category of competition.

“He took an exam and did two role plays,’ said Consolini. “He did very well.”

While he didn’t win, he did receive a certificate for receiving high test scores on his test and role play, explained Consolini. “I’m thrilled he got that far. I think he should be proud of himself. He really enjoyed competing against people from different states. He had a great time meeting people.”

“He’s pretty competitive,” said Consolini. “But it’s tough when it comes down to the best of the best and only 12 students make it.”

His topic for his first role play was: If you’re the owner of a sporting arena and you need to change policy to no longer allowing pets, but the message has to come across positive, how would you say it in a press release? Consolini said his response was to having a pet-sitting service or hae a petting zoo for children.

Nicoletta’s second role play was: For a wrestling organization that is just starting, and all wrestlers need to be free of substance, what would he do to promote it? This excited him, because he is a wrestler, said Consolini.

Although the students were there to compete they had a little more down time than they were able to have at District or States.

“While we were there we got to see game four of the Celtics at Philips Arena,” said Consolini.

The competition was very spread out, she explained. The judges needed more time to score and evaluate students than they did at States.

All advisors were required to work a day and were assigned a category. Consolini said she had to manage the state of Massachusetts Internet market business plan written test.