More than 22,000 high school students, teachers, advisers, alumni and business professionals will gather at the DECA international career development conference this month.

Many of the 10,000 DECA members will demonstrate their knowledge by participating in the competitive events program, which will be held April 27-30 in Anaheim, California. They had to qualify at their state competitions.

In Utah, hundreds of high school students dressed in their finest packed the Davis County Conference Center for the statewide business or DECA competition in late February.

DECA’s mission to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges worldwide. There are more than 255,000 DECA members who are students, teachers, advisers, alumni and professionals.

At the statewide competition, next year’s student officers were announced, including Corner Canyon’s Maddie Bloom, who will serve as the central region vice president.

Alta High was one of several Salt Lake Valley teams that competed. Its DECA club has 85 members and 30 competed at state.

“I’m so proud of these kids, watching how far the seniors on stage have come and seeing the progress already made for our younger students,” said Alta’s adviser Shaley Louder. “These students have a bright future.”

Corner Canyon was recognized as one of five chapters of the year.

Top finishers from Alta, Bingham, Brighton, Corner Canyon, Cottonwood, Jordan, Hillcrest and Murray high schools include:

Business Administration Exam — Thomas Hansen, Brighton; McKenna Fuller, Bingham; Surya Kapu, Corner Canyon; Stephanie Ball, Corner Canyon

Business Management and Administration Exam — Russ Storm, Bingham

Entrepreneurship Exam — Nathan Laker, Corner Canyon; Kimball Shill, Brighton; Zachary Naylor, Corner Canyon

Hospitality and Tourism Exam — Allen Liang, Hillcrest; Sophia Lin, Hillcrest; Maximilian Schneider, Jordan; Nathan Williamson, Corner Canyon; Grace Norton, Corner Canyon; Sang Chun, Hillcrest; Teagan Kay, Hillcrest; Daniel Whalen, Murray

Marketing Exam — Kiara Collins, Brighton; Vishnith Ashok, Hillcrest; Dovan Lapin, Corner Canyon; Kayla Nguyen, Corner Canyon; Savanna Barlow, Alta; Max White, Cottonwood; Mia Palmer, Corner Canyon; Gwen Holt, Cottonwood; Sathwik Boya, Hillcrest; Draven Hodges, Jordan; Vincent Liang, Hillcrest; Colton Woodley, Alta; Jonathan Arulanandam, Hillcrest

Automotive Services — Dima Kurdi, Alta

Business Finance — Veeranshu Danech, Hillcrest

Business Growth Plan team — Corner Canyon

Business Law and Ethics team — Bingham

Business Services Marketing — Aditi Vandanapu, Corner Canyon

Business Services Operations Research team — Brighton; Hillcrest

Business Solutions Project Management team — Corner Canyon

Buying and Merchandising Operations Research team – Hillcrest

Buying and Merchandising team — Hillcrest

Career Development Project Management team — two teams from Corner Canyon

Community Awareness Project Management team — two teams from Corner Canyon 

Community Giving Project Management team — Alta

Entrepreneurship — Kalash Rimal, Bingham; Thomas Pepper, Cottonwood

Financial Literacy Project Management team — Hillcrest

Financial Services team — Alta

Food Marketing — Allie Hammond, Corner Canyon

Franchise Business Plan team — Corner Canyon

Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research — two teams from Hillcrest

Hospitality Services team — three teams from Corner Canyon

Hotel and Lodging Management — Grace Norton, Corner Canyon; Amy Baer, Corner Canyon 

Human Resources Management — Haley Neff, Corner Canyon; Maria Salazar, Murray 

Independent Business Plan team — Alta; Hillcrest; Corner Canyon

Personal Finance Literacy — Ava Lindman, Corner Canyon

Principles of Business Management & Administration — Jake Catten, Cottonwood

Principles of Finance — Gabriel Quebodeaux, Corner Canyon; Thomas Hansen, Brighton 

Principles of Hospitality and Tourism — Alexandra Franklin, Bingham

Principles of Marketing — Stephanie Ball, Corner Canyon; Jet Piper, Corner Canyon; Jessica Cederlof, Bingham

Professional Selling — Dovan Lapin, Corner Canyon

Quick Serve Restaurant Management — Daniel Whalen, Murray; Teagan Kay, Hillcrest; Sienna Yang, Hillcrest

Restaurant & Food Service Management — Sang Chun, Hillcrest

Retail Merchandising — Colton Woodley, Alta

School Business Enterprise Event team — Alta; Brighton; Jordan; Corner Canyon

Sports & Entertainment Marketing team — two teams from Hillcrest; Cottonwood

Start-up Business Plan team — Hillcrest; Corner Canyon λ