EPHS DECA racks up wins at state competition

Eden Prairie High School’s (EPHS) DECA’s competitors achieved outsized winning results while combining business with pleasure at the recent Minnesota SCDC (State Development Career Conference).

Held March 2-4 at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, SCDC was the annual statewide competition for DECA. DECA’s stated mission is to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.

DECA’s competitive events fall into three broad categories: role-plays and case studies, prepared events, and online simulations. Within each category, DECA offers a variety of options across four career clusters — marketing, finance, hospitality and management — as well as in entrepreneurship and personal financial literacy, according to its website.

This year, EPHS sent 149 competitors to the statewide event – so many that they filled up two floors of the hotel. Of these, 100 reached the final round, and 50 ultimately qualified for the DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC), the culmination of the DECA year. Eden Prairie’s club is coached by EPHS business teachers Margot Cowing and Scott Sayles.

This years’s ICDC qualifiers from EPHS were: Nawal Abdullahi, Aishah Alam, Kayna Aneja, Avery Anslinger, Ayanna Aurora, Siri Backigari, Arnav Borlepwar, Dakshesh Cheepuru, Jia Chenchlani, Sid Chowdhury, Spandan Datta, Brooke Donohue, Raghava Dwivedi, Gabrielle Edwards, Cecelia Erickson, Aditi Ginuga, Aarav Gupta, Bhuvan Gundela, Aarna Jadhav, Nihal Kacham, Simone Kaura, Prajna Keenigi, Shivashish Khanna, Savannah Kohls, Rohith Kothandaraman, Annika Lal, Kevin Lam, Melody Li, Hari Neelamegam, Paras Nemani, Darren Nguyen, Gee Padmanaban, Nithin Palani, Sophie Palmieri, Aadya Pandey, Atharv Pandey, Shubh Pathrikar, Punya Pavuluri, Manas Penkar, Alana Richards, Isabella Ruiz, Maya Ryaboy, Charles Sexton, Devanshu Shah, Syon Shetty, Sid Shiva, Aarush Shukla, Celia Skubic, Lyla Stoll, and Anisha Surily.

The 2025 state competition had a record-breaking number of attendees, with more than 3,100 students. Considering that only 10% of competitors advance to the international competition, having one-third of EPHS competitors make it “was a huge accomplishment,” said Celia Skubic, an EPHS senior and the school’s DECA chapter president.

Salman Mohamed, an EPHS junior, called his experience at DECA State “absolutely amazing.” As a first-time competitor, he said, “I was definitely nervous, but once I got there, I was surrounded by incredible people from our chapter and different chapters who were so welcoming and supportive.”

Mohamed said, “The energy, the environment, and even the food made the whole experience unforgettable. From competing to connecting with new people, every moment was exciting, and I walked away with not just a great experience, but also new memories and friendships that will stay with me.”

Energy, excitement, and collaboration

The energy brought by the EPHS team — and from other schools — was palpable, Skubic said. “Everybody is suddenly in the same fast-paced, nerve-wracking boat no matter grade or event, and students really get the chance to connect with each other,” she said.

Melody Li, an EPHS senior and DECA officer, seconded this. “I really enjoyed spending time as a chapter and cheering on everyone,” she said.

If the competition at Minnesota’s DECA state conference is always high-energy, the award ceremonies are even more amped up. When a student becomes a finalist at SCDC, they walk across the convention center stage to receive a blue medal — or a testing medal if they earned one of the highest test scores — always to enthusiastic cheers from their teammates. “It was so fun seeing everyone and their hard work,” said Isabella Ruiz, a senior EPHS DECA officer.

After the finalists are announced, all the competitors still in the running gather that night on their hotel floor to practice for the final round. The entire space is filled with display stands, props — and, of course, plenty of snacks to fuel their energy.

“It’s so loud and full of energy – this year I just walked around and listened to a bunch of teams, offering advice and confidence,” Skubic said. “We also had a crazy adaptation of the game Spoons going on, which was definitely one of my highlights.”

At the next night’s award ceremony, the top eight finishers in each category are called to the stage and receive a medal for placing in the top half of competitors. Then, the top five or four (depending on the category) teams are announced and receive a trophy respective to their placing, “which serves as one shiny ticket to ICDC,” Skubic said.

Gabby Edwards, an EPHS senior and DECA officer, said she loved seeing the hard work of Eden Prairie students publicly recognized. “My favorite part was cheering everyone on at awards,” Edwards said. “It is so rewarding to see our chapter succeed.”

Avery Anslinger, a fellow senior and DECA officer, added, “I am so proud of our chapter and all of the hard work they put into competition.”

In pursuit of ‘DECA Glass’

Eden Prairie’s winning competitors are now preparing for ICDC, the international competition that will be held April 26–29 in Orlando, Florida. They will join more than 23,000 high school students, teacher-advisors, business professionals and alumni for several days of DECA excitement.

EPHS DECA’s preparation methods for ICDC are a mix of traditional and creative, Skubic said – namely, “lots of practicing, studying for the 100-question test, and getting excited for Harry Potter World at Universal Studios.” To boost excitement for all qualifiers this year, EPHS DECA also sorted its competitors into Hogwarts-inspired “houses,” which will compete in a Triwizard Tournament, intertwined with mock competition, before heading to ICDC.

At ICDC, students will be vying for the coveted “DECA Glass,” large acrylic plaques considered infinitely more important than the giant trophies. These are awarded to the first-, second- and third-place international finishers in each category. “Getting Glass is essentially ‘winning DECA,’” Skubic said. “That’s what the saying ‘go for Glass’ means.” Last year, Minnesota had 13 Glass winners – and Eden Prairie claimed seven of them.

Skubic said she was proud of the effort Eden Prairie students put into their work as well as their natural talent and mutual support for each other. “I know ICDC will be a blast – I cannot wait to see all of our success, which is not measured by Glass but rather fun memories, good behavior and many rounds of Spiderman Spoons,” she said.

To follow the Eden Prairie High School DECA chapter through the remainder of the season and learn more about the group, visit its Instagram page: @ep.deca.