Two Newton High School DECA students will be in Orlando, Florida this weekend to attend the DECA International Career Development Conference. Seniors Tamika Rodenboom and Alexis Dirksen qualified to compete in the conference back in February, when their joint project placed second at the Iowa DECA competition. Tamika says she was mostly responsible for coming up with the product for the project.

“We designed a hand warmer with chemicals inside it. You boil it to reactivate the chemicals. It’s bear shaped and fits in your palm. You press the nose to activate it, then you boil it to reactivate it.”

Alexis added that her role was to primarily develop the business and marketing plan for the product.

“For how to sell and distribute, which is where my expertise lies, and the financials.”

Dirksen and Rodenborn previously teamed up two years ago and qualified for the DECA International Conference, while Alexis also qualified last year. Teams from across the world compete at the conference, which begins tomorrow and ends Tuesday, April 29th.