A group of Belmont students recently participated in the International Collegiate DECA Competition, an opportunity for budding professionals to put their business acumen to the test, and swept the award categories. Every one of Belmont’s individual event finalists placed in the top ten of their events and five student teams advanced to the final round of the Entrepreneurship Challenge, among 52 teams. Three groups placed in the Challenge’s top ten and one of those teams, made up of Rachel Hawk and Chelsea Gettelfinger, received first place.
Belmont student awards included:
- First Place in the Entrepreneurship Challenge:
- Rachel Hawk and Chelsea Gettelfinger
- Top Ten in the Entrepreneurship Challenge:
- Abigail Crane, Jessica Hadik and Ben Mathews
- Maddy Eissler and Becca Wagner
- Case Competitions
- Sports and Entertainment Marketing, 3rd Place: Rachel Hawk and Becca Wagner
- Business to Business Marketing, Top 10: Maddy Eissler and Chelsea Gettlefinger
- Marketing Management, Top 10: Ben Mathews
- Marketing Management, Top 10: Cynthia Klauber
- Marketing Management, Top 10: Anas Saba
- Simulations
- Restaurant and Food Service Management, Top 10: Katherine Napier
- Prepared Events
- Starting a Business, Top 10: Andrew Cranny, Reed Ferguson and Austin Sellinger
Professor of Entrepreneurship and DECA Advisor Dr. Jeff Cornwall said, “I helped my good friend George Solomon from George Washington University launch the Entrepreneurship Challenge at DECA fifteen years ago. I have watched as the event has grown from a handful of participants in a small conference room our first year, to a ballroom full of teams from around the globe in recent years. I am so proud that even as the event has grown in size and the level of competition has dramatically increased, our Belmont students continue to excel.”
