Schools
Oakdale Patch Whiz Kids: Tartan DECA Students Secure Exclusive Certification
A team of three Tartan High School DECA students completed an 80-page document that resulted in a Gold Level Certification for their school store.
Oakdale Patch Whiz Kids: Ebony Kargbo (12th grade), Alan Medina-Gonzalez (12th grade) and Teni Lamina (11th grade)
School:
Accomplishment: Achieved DECA Gold Level Certification for their school store—a rank reached by only 137 school stores nationwide.
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Between extra-curricular activities and schoolwork, students Ebony Kargbo, Alan Medina-Gonzalez and Teni Lamina made time to compile an 80-page document detailing every aspect of the DECA school store's operations—a test of their time management skills and their tolerance for stress, they said.
But the hard work paid off when they heard back that their application for Gold Level Certification, putting their store in a class with only 137 others across the nation, had been accepted.
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“I was so relieved, because it was months of work and preparation,” Kargbo said. “Making sure it’s all correct is kind of an overwhelming task.”
Pride in their school store motivated the students, they said.
“Not a lot of people know how great the store is,” Medina-Gonzalez said.
Working on the document gave the team a deeper understanding of how the store works, and also showed them how far they’ve come in the past five years, which is when the last such application was completed, Kargbo said.
Now, with a successful project behind them, the students have the satisfaction of knowing their work will live on.
“We got to put a taste of ourselves in it,” Lamina said, “so the next people that certify our store know our point of view and what we thought.”
All three students said they think their experience in DECA will help them reach their future goals.
Kargbo said she plans to attend Marquette University or the University of St. Thomas and go into nutrition or pharmacy. Lamina said she’s planning to attend college somewhere in Minnesota and study biology with a neuroscience concentration. Medina-Gonzalez said he plans to play football at Augsburg College and major in international business, marketing or premed.