SMSU students do well at DECA conference

SMSU students Faith Onyeji and Trust Amitaye took home first-place honors in Organizational Leadership at the recent Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) Career Development Conference.

Onyeji is a senior from Portharcourt, Nigeria and Amitaye an MBA student from Effurun, Nigeria.

The SMSU duo of Joanne Lu (MBA student, Tayuan City, Taiwan) and Jean Chen (MBA student, Taichung City, Taiwan) took second place in that category. SMSU’s Eric Lu (MBA student, Taichung City, Taiwan) and Eileen Huang (MBA student, Hsinchu City, Taiwan) placed third. Claire Lee (MBA student, Pingtung County, Taiwan) and Rose Lin (MBA student, Taipei City, Taiwan) were event finalists.

Pusparaj Thapa (senior, Kavrepalanchok, Nepal) and Kamal West (senior, Ikeja Lagos, Nigeria) placed second in the Financial Statement Analysis category. West finished second in Financial Accounting Analysis, and Onyeji was second in Managerial Accounting.

Chen was an event finalist in Fashion Merchandising and Marketing, and Huang was an event finalist in Marketing Management.

Eric Lu, Joanne Lu and Huang were presented with Outstanding Service Awards.

DECA is an international association of high school and college students and teachers of marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality, and marketing sales and service. The organization prepares leaders and entrepreneurs for careers and education in marketing, finance, hospitality, management, and other business areas. It is one of ten organizations listed as Career and Technical Student Organizations by the United States Department of Education.

Dr. Kenneth Chukwuba, assistant professor in the Department of Management, is the DECA chapter adviser at SMSU.