The Oak Harbor High School DECA team of Mike Washington, Ben Muyres and Mitchel Jackson earned the title of National Champion in the Virtual Business Sports event. Competing at the National DECA competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, the Oak Harbor team beat 16 other competitors from across the United States in a bracket-style tournament.

For Washington and Muyres, this is their second year of winning, earning the title of Back-to-Back National Champions.

Their event involved competing in a computer simulation where the student team acquires a professional sports franchise and must make marketing, pricing, personnel and other business decisions with the goal of turning the biggest profit against their competitors. During each stage of the competition they competed in a 20-minute head-to-head competition against four other teams.

In the championship round, the Oak Harbor team was actually in third and fourth place until the final two minutes when they made key decisions and moves to vault them into an incredible finish and the national title.

The students brought home a plaque, medals and will receive a $1,000 check from the sponsors, Knowledge Matters and Safeway.

To qualify for the National Competition, the team had to earn first in a local qualifying round in February. During the rounds, they beat out over 60 other teams from Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada.

Oak Harbor High School DECA also congratulates Josh McVey for his top 10 finish at the National DECA competition. McVey, competing in the Quick Serve Restaurant event, made his way through 150 other competitors over three days of role plays (solving a business scenario) and a written test.

He earned a spot on the national stage and honorable mention along with a medallion recognizing his accomplishment.

Other Oak Harbor students that attended this conference representing Washington included Hannah Bressler and Emily Hunt, receiving Gold Certification for the Oak Harbor Student Store; Gabe Groenig competed in the Business Services role play event; and Matt Reith and Jillian White attended training and leadership academies for training to bring back to the local chapter.