DECA will be competing in the State Competition Thursday, March 8 through Saturday, March 10 at  the Holiday Inn  in Decatur.

This year, 40 students are going to compete, a new record for Niles West. A total of one thousand students from all over the state will also be at the competition.

DECA sponsor Eric Lueder is pleased with the amount of students who qualified.

“More kids have earned the right [to go to State] this year. The DECA students have worked hard,” Lueder says.

Junior Robert Urosev, whose project is financial literacy, is excited to go to State.

“I’m really excited to be going because you meet a lot of new people,compete, and experience a lot,” Urosev says.

31 students will be presenting a written paper project. Some projects include Decalicious ice cream, flower sales, fashion promotion, and the actual DECA class has 9 different business strategy projects alone. Winners will be able to move on to the National competition, which takes place in Salt Lake City, Utah and will host fourteen thousand students from all over the world.

“Bringing more kids gives us a better chance to win, which we’ll do,” Lueder says.

Urosev has high hopes for Nationals as well.

“Overall, we hope to qualify for Nationals and take away as much as possible from the business world,” Urosev says.