Timber Creek High School students won awards at the recent state 2026 DECA Competition in the following categories:
First place
- – Chase McGinley, Entrepreneurship (first-year member)
- – Daniella Barbu, Apparel and Accessories Marketing
- – Om Patel, Hotel and Lodging Management
- – Milan Bhatt, Entrepreneurship
- – Rushabh Patel and Audrey Irby, Hospitality Team
Other winners
- – Christina Abolarin, Personal Finance (first-year member)
- – Aliyah Joseph, Personal Finance
- – Rothida Horn, Apparel & Accessories Marketing
- – Mouhamed N’Diaye, Apparel & Accessories Marketing
- – Adam Kassem, Sports and Entertainment Marketing
- – Dwight Pitts, Sports and Entertainment Marketing
- – Phoenix Blackford-Wadhams, Accounting
- – Nevaeh Butler, Marketing (first-year member)
- – Prisca Osei, Restaurant Food Service Management
- – Kadie Jabbie, Marketing Communications
- – Siomara Reqino-Lopez, Business Intern.
- – Aleena Reji, Automotive Service Marketing
- – Matt Uwazuruonye, Automotive Service Marketing
Patel, Barbu, Horn, Kassem, and Osei will represent Timber Creek at the DECA International Career Development Conference in Atlanta from, Georgia from April 25 to 28. The event is the culmination of the DECA year.
With a nearly 70-year history, DECA has impacted the lives of more than 10 million students, educators, school administrators and business professionals since it was founded in 1946, according to its website. It prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.
New Jersey DECA is organized under the auspices of the state Department of Education’s Office of Career and Technical Education and is managed by Kean University’s College of Business and Public Management under a grant from the education department. There are currently more than 10,000 members across New Jersey in nearly 120 high schools.
