The Eastern Michigan University’s Michigan DECA will have their 70th Annual Career Development Conference, hosting 3,600 Michigan high school students from across the state at the Cobo Center in downtown Detroit March 11-13, 2016. This conference is especially unique to high school marketing leaders because it is the only conference in Michigan that allows them to prepare for their careers in the field and network with leading professionals.
Roughly 500 business leaders and community members will be in attendance to assist as judges for forty-seven competitions that will take place during the conference and meet one-on-one with students to provide feedback on their understanding of the marketing field. Business professionals from companies such as Ford, AT&T, General Motors, DTE Energy Meijer Detroit Marriott and Kellogg Company will return again this year to interact with students.
According to a press release for this conference, DECA is the “only international student organization operating through school to connect students with careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, management and entrepreneurship.”
Each of the competitions designed for the event are to provide a “constructive avenue for individual and team expression, initiative and creativity.” Students who excel in the competitions will be presented with awards and the top five competitors in each event will advance to represent Michigan at DECA’s International Career Development Conference in Nashville, Tennessee on April 22-27.
Dave Wait, Executive Director of Michigan DECA says DECA is thrilled to receive overwhelming support from southeastern Michigan to make this significant conference a reality. In a press release Wait said “We are appreciative of the 500 local entrepreneurs, business professionals and community members that will evaluate the students and provide feedback so they can become Michigan’s next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders.”
For the 2016 school year, Michigan DECA State Officers have set a goal to raise $45,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. DECA has partnered with MDA for the past 25 years and have collectively raised over $5 million so far to help them provide free summer camps thousands of children, medical services at MDA clinics nationwide and research to help find a cure for muscular dystrophy.
EMU’s Michigan DECA office is located in 212 King Hall. For more information on the conference please visit Michigan DECA's official website or call (734) 487-3322.
