Lou DiCesare, Business Education Teacher

January 30, 2009

Senior Duo Competed in the Virtual Business Retail

Computer Simulation Competition

Irondequoit High School Business students Tyler Condello and Sam Kennedy have qualified to compete at the DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) for the third consecutive year as national finalists.

After placing 8^th in the country their sophomore year, and 6^th in the country their junior year, the senior duo of Condello/Kennedy are looking for a national title after competing for the last 25 days on a retail store simulation competition.

Strategies around purchasing, merchandising and staffing were tested. Upon running the simulation for a virtual year 538 teams from around the country uploaded their scores to the software designer’s Web site ( http://vbc.knowledgematters.com/vbc/retailing/rankings ) to see how they fared against one another. Instantly their scores were displayed.

After uploading a score, teams may visit the ranking’s page in order to see where they rank by state, by region and nationally. Teams may upload as many scores as they wish because Knowledge Matters will always rank teams based upon their best score. During each of the Challenges, the top two teams from each of the four regions (Central, North Atlantic, Southern & Western) will qualify to compete at the ICDC. A maximum of one team, per chapter, per Challenge is eligible to qualify for the ICDC.

Condello/Kennedy not only qualified by finishing second in the North Atlantic region, but finished 2^nd in the country out of the 538 team participants. They now will begin to fundraise to travel to ICDC in Anaheim to compete for the first prize of $1,000.

Condello and Kennedy began their three-time national quest by learning the business/retail strategies in a business class titled Virtual Business Management taught by teacher and DECA advisor Lou DiCesare.

They now will await the DECA State Career Conference in March to see if any of the 48 Irondequoit DECA students who qualified in their respective events will be traveling with them to ICDC at the end of April.

It is also worthy to note that freshman RJ Hellis competed in the Virtual Business Sports simulation competition. This competition tests student's knowledge in running a sports franchise by making decisions around ticket pricing, stadium staffing, media planning, promotion give-aways, etc. Although he did not qualify to compete at the ICDC by finishing first in the North Atlantic region, he did finish first in New York State and will be recognized with a medal and certificate at the NY DECA State Career Conference.