Tori DeLeonardo #6

Happy New Year Florida DECA! I hope all of you had an amazing holiday break. This month has been a busy one. With District competition and preparation for the State CDC I know all of you have had a busy month as well. Congratulations to those you who have made it on the States, I truly cannot wait to see you there. The State Officers have been working hard to make sure you end your DECA year with the best State CDC possible. At the beginning of the month, we all got together at City Place in West Palm Beach to catch up with each other and discuss our ideas for the conference. We’re bringing in a lot of new, exciting ideas to ensure your experience is unforgettable. Also, this February we will be attending the first ever Winter Meeting to go over the script for States and finalize some new decisions for the conference. The promotion video is finally complete, as promised last year in my campaign speech, and your schools will be receiving them at the State CDC. The end result is something that is not only entertaining, but informative to help your schools gain new members and help Florida DECA grow as a whole. I truly cannot wait to see all of you at the end of February, good luck in your competitions!

Lauren Sandler #6

Hey Florida DECA!  The beginning of January was a whirlwind of DECA events between testing, presentations, and the award ceremony all within two weeks. At the district presentation, hosted by local colleges and judged by volunteer professionals from all over the city, the air was thick with the desire to win. Testing, held in our very own cafeteria, was another intense competition. Every competitor had one thing on their minds, the Florida State Career Development Conference in Orlando. The Broward County District Award Ceremony was held in the beautiful facilities of Nova Southeastern University where family, friends, and relatives came from near and far to see their students walk on stage to receive their trophies.Though it may seem that once district competition is over, everyone can relax, but that is certainly not the case! Every qualifier at the district level must now prepare and fine tune their test taking skills and presentation to compete at the optimum level for a chance to go to International Competition in Atlanta, Georgia this April. Our chapter has been holding practice every Tuesday after school and is planning a lock-in in our gymnasium next February where competitors will have five hours to perfect and practice their presentation in front of more volunteer judges from our city. Hopefully everyone who has qualified for the State Competition has been diligently preparing. I wish everyone the best of luck! If you have any questions or concerns, never hesitate to send an email to lauren_sandler@fldeca.org.  
Lauren Sandler
State Vice President
Coral Glades High School

Ricky Oxenhandler #6

Happy New Year Florida DECA! I couldn’t be more excited to think of all the great things that will be happening in 2008 for both myself and Florida DECA. I will be graduating high school in just 5 short months. Its amazing how fast my four years in high school have flown by. I will be leaving for college at the end of the summer, in August, to a whole new world of learning and opportunities. I only hope that it will be just as much fun as high school has been.            For Florida DECA, 2008 is an extremely exciting year. District competition just took place to identify State CDC competitors. To those of you who made it, congratulations! I believe States this year will be the best one yet, and I couldn’t be more excited for February 28 to finally come around. As to the State Officers for next year, its amazing to think that there are nine Vice President candidates and two President candidates. To those of you running, good luck!
            I can’t wait to see all of you at the State Career Development Conference in Orlando next month. If you have any questions, please contact me at Ricky_Oxenhandler@fldeca.org.

Michael Perez #6

Hey Florida DECA!Congratulations on making it through your District competitions and an even bigger congratulations for those of you that will be traveling to States in a couple of weeks. I’m sure the feeling of knowing the first stage is finished with is a great relief, I know it was for me. Now that you may be state bound, it’s time to tweak and create manual presentations, practice role plays, and continue to study practice tests because all of these components are a large part of your score. Just make sure you keep up the hard work and don’t let it stop for at least the next couple of weeks.I know January turned my attention to preparing for competitions; I have to brush up on my role playing skills for Retail Merchandising. But it also brought the end to my winter break and the beginning to a new semester at my school, which means new classes. Not only is DECA now getting my attention outside of school, but three of my four classes do so too. In my last semester of high school, I’m now finishing the Academy of Finance and Marketing tracks at my school.  I’m glad that I can devote more time to our association and go further in it with this.Finally, one of the biggest events we can expect to see at our quickly approaching State CDC is the election of your next State Action Team. I’m very excited at the fact that so many members have decided to join the race for office this year and are so willing to be the next leaders of Florida DECA. We will hear from nine vice-presidential candidates this year and two presidential candidates. It will be up to you though to elect who you feel is the best candidate to win. Make sure at states you don’t miss their speeches and stop by the campaign booths at some time to meet the candidates and learn more about them. But until then, good luck to everyone and I’ll see you on stage!Michael Perez                                                                                                                                                          Vice-President                                                                                                                                                      Florida DECA

Michael Ziffer #6

Florida DECA!

            I can not believe that states is less than a month away!  My fellow state officers and I are working hard to see that we make this the best CDC Florida has seen yet.  Even though competition is so close to us, I would love to hear from you guys if you have any suggestions, or if you need some assistance getting ready for State competition.  Most DECA Scholarship applications are due by February 15tth, so make sure you guys all get those turned in so you can get money for college,  On Super Bowl Sunday, my fellow state officers and myself will be meeting to discuss states.  So if anyone wants something brought up, let one of us know. 

            This will be my last web post as a state officer, and I enjoyed doing them.  I hope to hear from all of you before states, and after states too.  Good luck Florida DECA in your preparation for competition, and remember to experience the difference!

Michael Ziffer

Florida DECA Vice-President