Gloucester Alumni

Julio Chuy, Staff Writer
Gloucester Daily Times

After placing first in the district competition, the Gloucester High School Distributive Education Clubs of America team is heading to the state championships next month in Boston.

The DECA district competition took place Feb. 2 and 44 students participated. At the end of the event, a group of nine students qualified to go to the state competition.

"It's pretty exciting to be representing Gloucester," said team co-president and senior Joe LaRocca.

Those ,heading to the state competition in addition to LaRocca are seniors Jon MacDonald, Heidi Marquis, Andrew Nicastro, Michael McDuffee, Ryan Pinkham, Joseph Cromosini, Arthur Coleman and Lisa Spillman.

The mission of DECA Inc. is to enhance the education of students with interests in marketing, management and entrepreneurship. DECA helps students develop skills for marketing careers, build self-esteem, experience leadership and practice community service, according to the organization's website.

If any of the students post top scores in the state competition, they will be granted a bid to the International DECA competition, which will be held later this year in Orlando, Fla.

In addition to getting ready for the state competition, students are busy fundraising for the event, which will cost each about $340 to attend.

Anyone looking to donate to the group can contact Ann Grassetti at the high school business department at 978 281-9870 or e-mail her at agrassetti@gloucester.k12.ma.us.