What individual is one of thirteen state representatives for DECA, helps plan district conferences, and represents the 800- 900 students in Douglas County that participate in DECA? The answer to that is junior Logan Cone. 

  Cone, who has been in DECA since his sophomore year, is the district four state representative for one of the 13 districts in Colorado. This means that Cone has a hand in helping plan district competitions and state competitions for all DECA programs across not only Douglas County, but Colorado. Cone earned this spot on Feb. 26 of this year at the DECA state competition. Even though Cone might have the position of state representative right now, it wasn’t an easy path to earn the spot he has today.

  Cone first heard of DECA when Dennis Sierra, business and FBLA adviser, recommended that Cone sign up for Marketing One so he could do DECA. Cone said, “Mr. Sierra recommended that I sign up for marketing and do DECA to become more well-rounded in the business world.”

  By the time the first semester of Cone’s sophomore year came around, he was signed up for marketing so he could pursue DECA. When asked why he wanted to join DECA, Cone said, “I heard DECA was very similar to FBLA, and I had loved FBLA competitions, so I was looking for the same feeling.”

  Cone found success early on in his DECA career. In his first district competitions, he competed in Accounting Applications and qualified for the state competition. Since then, Cone has been awarded multiple times in regionals and state.

  Cone wanted to become a state rep when he first found out about it his freshmen year when he was at an FBLA state conference. During the conference, the people who ran the conference introduced other CTSO (Career and Technical Student Organization) state officers, and he remembered DECA state reps being represented in that.

  There was a long process Cone had to go through in order to become a state rep. First, Cone had to take a DECA competency test and score at least a 70 percent. Cone said, “This test consists of anything DECA related such as state officer info, their mission statement, info about Colorado DECA, etc.” Cone then had to make a visual resume showing his accomplishments and his DECA experience.

  Then at the state competition held at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Cone had to present a 2-minute speech about DECA related topics and was also interviewed where the board asked a multitude of questions about Cone.

  At the end of the ceremony, the board announced that Cone will be taking the position of state officer for district four for the following year.

  Since attaining this position, Cone has been a big influence and help to the members of DECA as he is a leader in the club. Business teacher and DECA adviser Jamie Young said, “He is a very quiet leader. He leads through example. He always does the right thing and does what he is supposed to do.”

  Haena Kim, junior and member of DECA, has worked with Cone on multiple projects. She said, “He’s a hard worker and gets things done on time. He always makes sure he’s doing something right before he turns in his work which is a quality that many students don’t have.”

  Cone hopes to keep making an impact on DECA and FBLA coming into his senior year.

Evan Naemura, Online Editor