Six Locust Valley High School students traveled to Rochester, New York for the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) Competition in March. Freshmen Harry Fraser, Dominic Spina and Nicholas Vebeliunas and sophomores Aman Arora, Evan Rafiy and Adhvaith Sreenivas were Locust Valley’s first representatives at the state-level conference. Over the course of two days, the trailblazing students competed in several business competitions and sat in on valuable lectures and workshops.
Locust Valley has been a part of DECA for three years, and the participation in the state event is just a prelude to what the program could soon be. Club adviser and business teacher Lara Olotka is in her first year in the district and has quickly helped students find their interests within the business world. “I always tell the students that business is everywhere,” Olotka said. “The skills that they learn will benefit them whether or not they choose business as a major.”
The marketing and personal finance and investment courses, which each had one class section this year will expand to two each next year. A Virtual Enterprise course is also on its way next year and will task students to run a mock business as a class.