Eastside Catholic is proud to announce that the school-based enterprise ThECru, a student-operated and managed school store, was among 391 school-based enterprises (SBEs) in the United States that achieved Gold Level Certification (or Gold Level Re-certification) this year and will be recognized at DECA’s International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Atlanta, Georgia.

Senior Kemper Jolly (Sammamish) worked on the certification with the assistance of her advisor, Marketing/Business Education Teacher Kerri Jensen.

“I am so proud of Kemper’s hard work as the store manager,” Kerri Jensen said. “This role is usually a shared responsibility, but Kemper jumped in and took it on all by herself. She has not only managed the store with excellence, she was able to achieve a gold recertification based on an outstanding paper she wrote regarding her store operations and management.”

DECA’s School-based Enterprise Certification Program was developed to provide recognition for outstanding achievement by school-based enterprises and to motivate SBEs to strive for excellence and growth. SBEs can be certified at three levels: bronze, silver or gold. To apply for the certification, SBEs must submit extensive documentation that demonstrates their adherence to various marketing and retail standards. After the documentation is submitted, a review committee evaluates the documentation to determine which level of certification has been achieved.

ThECru serves as a student laboratory for marketing and advanced marketing EC students. Students are responsible for the daily operation and management of the store as well as the strategic development of its future marketing plans. ThECru offers various snacks and school supplies to all students and staff and operates regularly during the lunch period. The profits from the store directly benefit our DECA chapter as they cover competition costs and chapter fees. ThECru is overseen by two senior EC student managers, two apprentice junior managers and Kerri Jensen.

Seven other EC students will join Kemper at the International Career Development Conference in Atlanta on April 21-25 where they will compete against 18,000 DECA students from across the country. To qualify, our students competed against 3,900 other Washington DECA students and all finished in the top seven of their category.

Brian Delaney (Sammamish) and Bailey Reed (Redmond) – Second place, Learn and Earn team

Matthew Johnescu (Snoqualmie) and Ryan Mudgett (Sammamish) – Fifth place, Entrepreneur Planning team

James Dougan (Sammamish) – Fifth place, Principals of Marketing

Christopher Andrews (Issaquah) – Sixth place, Entrepreneur Individual Series

Elizabeth Iwicki (Sammamish) – Seventh place, Apparel Marketing

“DECA members demonstrate their college- and career-ready knowledge by participating in DECA’s industry-validated Competitive Events Program, aligned with Career Clusters, National Curriculum Standards and 21st century skills in the areas of marketing, finance, hospitality, management and entrepreneurship,” Jensen said. “These members have qualified to attend based on superior performance at the regional and state level and we are so happy to be sending eight EC students to Atlanta to participate in this competition.”

In addition, five students will be attending the ICDC academy. These students applied and were accepted based on their contributions to the DECA program.

Gabrielle Iem (Redmond)

Jacqueline Johanneson (Kirkland)

Scott Lees (Sammamish)

Julia Morgan (Bellevue)

Alexander Sheehan (Bellevue)

“These five EC students will participate in DECA’s Emerging Leader Series, which helps them attain 21st century skills in the areas of collaboration and teamwork, communication, critical thinking and problem solving and creativity,” Jensen said. “One highlight is the involvement of executive mentors who provide college and career advice. I am proud of these students for being accepted into this academy.”