East Paulding High School DECA members attended the annual DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) that took place in Orlando, FL, on April 25-30, 2025. The DECA ICDC spotlights DECA’s top student performers from nearly all 50 United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and China. It also highlights innovative business partnerships that empower these emerging leaders and entrepreneurs to tackle the challenges of an ever-evolving and increasingly complex economic landscape.
Students from East Paulding High School DECA attended ICDC to participate in the following:

• Arianna Johnson & Kaeden Miller – “Community Giving Project” for their work with the EPHS Veterans Breakfast
• Mady Thomason & Rylie Jackson – “Community Giving Project” for their work with the EPHS Pink Out Football Game – Breast Cancer Awareness
• Mamie Jeffries, Mattie Kate Ford, & Ava Freedman – “Sales Project” for their work with the Mr. Raider Pageant
• Angelina Arce – “Community Awareness Project” for her work with the Dig for Gold Volleyball Game – Childhood Cancer Awareness
• Alyssa Gurley & Addison Geiger – “Financial Literacy Project” for their work with the EPHS 8th Grade Reality/Pathway Fair
• Zakiya Castello & Kendylle Jones – “Gold Recertification – School Based Enterprise” for The Raider Trader
• Leah Smith – “Human Resource Management”
• Zak Turner & Ivan Vargas – Thrive Academy

This year’s #DECAICDC featured over 26,000 members and advisors in attendance. In addition to career-based competition, DECA members engaged in leadership academies and networking opportunities with over 80 internationally recognized businesses.
During the school year, approximately 195,000 of DECA’s 293,000 student members take part in the organization’s competitive events program, allowing them to compete for local and regional titles. The competitions are designed to simulate real-life business scenarios and test students’ academic understanding and skills development. The top state and provincial winners put their talents to the test during the program’s final round of competition in Orlando.

About DECA Inc.
DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs with a career interest 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. DECA student members leverage their DECA experience to become academically prepared, community-oriented, professionally responsible, and experienced leaders. DECA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with over 298,000 members in more than 4,450 high school and college chapters in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Germany. For more information about DECA, visit www.deca.org.

Halie F. Bissell, Ed.S. EPHS Marketing Teacher