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February 9, 2015

Harker DECA Team Named Global Winner in 2014 DECA IDEA Challenge

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January 22, 2015—Costa Mesa, Calif.—California DECA is honored to be home to the global winner of the middle school division of the 2014 DECA IDEA Challenge. The team “AA & E” from The Harker School was among the global finalists announced last week and was recently named the global winner. The team is comprised of Ajay Madala, Andrew Chavez, and Ethan Choi.
As a part of the annual DECA IDEA Challenge held during Global Entrepreneurship Week, students find an innovative, practical use to an everyday object and then pitch their invention in a 3-minute video presentation. In the 2014 edition, the item was newspaper. AA & E was able to create an innovative pencil pouch (The NP Pouch).
The team will receive a cash prize of $1,000 and be recognized on both DECA Inc.’s and the Global Entrepreneurship Week’s websites.
“I have always struggled in sports and have always felt entrepreneurial spirit, and I would always love to watch Shark Tank and The Profit, so being the global champion means everything,” commented Ethan Choi, one of the team members of AA & E. “Once you have a goal don’t just try to reach the goal; go beyond it, have fun, and learn.”
Mr. Juston E. Glass, the DECA advisor at The Harker School, further remarked: “As a chapter and officer team, and as part of DECA month’s Promotional Campaign, we made it a goal to reach out to our middle school students and make them aware of the great opportunity that the IDEA Challenge is. Where you can take a real life opportunity and challenge yourself to come up with a real life solution and/or product. We provided coaching as needed, and our officer team made special effort to go to their campus to encourage the students to participate.  We are proud of the response from all of the middle school students and their submissions. We are especially pleased with Ajay, Ethan, & Andrew for taking the time to be creative and put in the effort and hard work as they did. Thank you Global Entrepreneurship Week and DECA for giving us this opportunity. #IamDECA and I am proud of it.”
On behalf of everyone at California DECA, congratulations to AA & E for this amazing feat, marking the second time that a California team has become a global winner in the DECA IDEA Challenge. In 2012, a team from Mission San Jose DECA was the global winner with their innovative “EcoWear” made out of ordinary plastic bags.
To view the video introducing the NP Pouch by AA & E, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTUqqPJtBDk#t=24.
For more information on the DECA Idea Challenge, please visit http://www.gew.co/challenge.

About California DECA
California DECA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Career and Technical Student Organization, endorsed by the California Department of Education. With over 4,500 members in 59 schools throughout California, California DECA works to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in four fields of business: marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. For more information about California DECA, visit www.californiadeca.org.

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Contact Information
To learn more about this story, please contact:
California DECA
info@californiadeca.org
1-888-605-DECA