For the second straight year the Fort Dodge Senior High senior has been awarded the top prize and will attend the International Career Development Conference.

“I’m super proud of her,” said DECA advisor Amy Jaeschke. “She earned first place last year and this will be her second trip to nationals.

“I’m proud of her commitment.”

Headlee and four other FDSH students competed at the DECA State Career Development Conference at Southeast Polk High School.

-Submitted photo
State award winners are pictured from left: Olivia Hamlow, Ashlyn Headlee and Trusha Bhatt.

Last year Headlee earned first place and attended a trip with two other Dodgers in Georgia. Her first place this year earned her a trip to Orlando, Florida, April 22 through April 25.

“Last year I went to Georgia with two other competitors from Fort Dodge Senior High,” Headlee said. “It was super fun and a great experience. I met new people and had new experiences.

“This year I expect to have another trip where I will meet more people as well as experience new things.”

This year Headlee put together a presentation on cat food.

“This year I was nervous about competition so I decided to do two events,” Headlee said. “My presentation was about a cat food brand called Nulo and I recommended ways they could reach more demographics and how much it would cost.”

DECA is a career and technical education student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for college and careers.

Also competing for Fort Dodge were Olivia Hamlow, Trusha Bhatt, Liberty Huffman and Gabriella Santana-Bass.

Headlee was also named the Most Outstanding Marketing Chapter Member for FDSH.

Bhatt earned honorable mention in Entrepreneurship and Hamlow was also an honorable mention selection in Personal Financial Literacy.

“I’m proud of all of our students who competed at the state level,” Jaeschke said. “They worked really hard preparing for the competition and it showed.

“They represented themselves and our school well.”

In addition to competing, the students heard from a speaker from the University of Iowa’s School

of Business, attended a leadership session facilitated by the University of Northern Iowa and

voted for state officers.

“It’s kind of funny, they didn’t think they did as well as they did,” Jaeschke said. “They were shocked when they were on stage.

“I don’t think they realized how good their presentations actually were.”