Seventy-seven members of the Westonka DECA Chapter attended the 2024 Back to Business Challenge held Oct. 27-28 in Minneapolis.
Click the above image for more photos from the conference
October 31, 2025 — The Westonka DECA Chapter is off to an impressive start to the 2024-25 season, showcasing both seasoned talent and enthusiastic newcomers as they take on competitive business simulations. Recently, three of the chapter's teams distinguished themselves by qualifying for the DECA International Career and Development Conference (ICDC) through the Virtual Business Challenge. Meanwhile, the chapter's recent participation in the Back to Business Challenge provided an exciting opportunity for 77 members to sharpen their skills and gain invaluable experience.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how our roughly 200-member chapter competes this season,” said advisor Maggie Carlson. “We have a great group of officers, eager new members, and students already digging into their projects for this year.”
Three Westonka DECA Teams are International Qualifiers in Virtual Business Challenge
Nine Mound Westonka High School students have qualified for the DECA ICDC after their teams placed in the top two in the region in the DECA Knowledge Matters Virtual Business Challenge.
In the challenge round that ran Oct. 15-25, high school DECA members in the United States and Canada participated in eight Virtual Business Tracks: VBC Entrepreneurship, VBC Fashion, VBC Restaurant, VBC DECA Hotel Challenge, VBC Sports, VBC Personal Finance, VBC Retailing and VBC Accounting. Each track encourages DECA members to test their skills within its particular virtual business environment – individually or as a team of up to three members.
Juniors Hayden Dehmer, Leon Kravchenko and George Pettitt placed first in the state, first in the Central Region and eighth in the nation to advance to Internationals in the VBC Sports Challenge, which encourages DECA members to test their skills at managing a football franchise. Participants managed concessions, booked events, analyzed players, chose ticket prices, organized staffing needs, coordinated parking logistics, and more. For each round, teams were ranked based on their franchise's total profit after running the simulation for two virtual football seasons.
For the second year in a row, seniors Ruby Finck and Lauren Velander and junior Allison Kreiser advanced to ICDC in the VBC Fashion competition, where they conducted trend research, designed garments, promoted via social media, selected retail locations, and more. Teams were ranked based on their fashion business' highest cumulative profit after running the simulation for two virtual fashion seasons. Finck, Kreiser and Velander placed first in the state and second in the Central Region to advance to Internationals.
The DECA Hotel Challenge, presented by the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, encourages DECA members to test their skills at managing a simulated hotel. Ali Butler, Sienna Dehmer and Maria Neumann qualified for Internationals by placing first in the state and second in the Central Region. Their simulated hotel was ranked based on a balanced scorecard that included profitability, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction.
Other members of the Westonka DECA Chapter will have the chance to qualify for ICDC later this school year by advancing through the regional and state competitions. The 2024 ICDC will be held in Anaheim, California April 27-30.
Westonka DECA Participates in Back to Business Challenge
Seventy-seven members of the Westonka DECA Chapter attended the 2024 Back to Business Challenge held Oct. 27-28 in Minneapolis. The conference included 900 participants from chapters across the state. The conference was open to all new members of our chapter in addition to our officer team. Students attended DECA workshops, and new members competed in their first role-play. In addition, members got to experience a DECA exam.
Medals were awarded to the top two or top three finishers in each role-play section. New members earning medals were: ninth graders Oliver Berg, Will Bryan, Amelia Holmberg, Ameila Kliebenstein, Sadie Mulder, Lilli Osterberg, Gabrielle Reitan, Tristan Santoski, Grace Schrempp, Vinny Shaw, and Zach Van Nelson; sophomores Sadie Cline and David Kalis; and juniors Paige Johnson and Lillian Leger.
“This was my first time seeing what DECA was like, and I was able to do a deep dive into what the future will bring,” said Schrempp. “Not only did I get to work with my chapter, but I engaged with other high chapters as well. Can’t wait for a great year!”
Returning members earning medals included: sophomores Addie Bryan, August Lang, Ella McClellan, Val Mobagi and Lizzy Nash; juniors Allison Kreiser and Maria Sells; and seniors Anna Borg, Stella Miner, and Jagger Wittine. Miner also received a high test score medal.
“I had an amazing time at B2B this past weekend,” said Borg, co-president of the Westonka DECA Chapter. “Not only did I enhance my DECA skills through competition and workshops, I also collaborated with other DECA members and had the opportunity to listen and learn from them and their DECA success!”
About Westonka DECA
DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. DECA enhances the preparation for college and careers by providing co-curricular programs that integrate into classroom instruction, apply learning, connect to business and promote competition. The Westonka DECA program is led by advisors Carlson, Sue Simonson, Alex Wagner and Scott Huston.
