Grand Island High School: WNY DECA Installation Dinner features GIHS grad

Salvatore's Italian Gardens was the setting on Wednesday, Nov. 7, for the annual Region 12 DECA Installation Dinner. This occasion is the official installation of DECA members for the 15 schools in the Western New York region, and more than 550 students and guests were in attendance. The speaker this year was Corey McGowan, former Grand Island High School DECA president and coordinator of this year's hugely successful Taste of Grand Island/Mural Project. McGowan's message to the membership of DECA was that the club prepared him for his future and gave him an edge over other students because of what he learned from competing in DECA at the regional and state levels. Networking, resume-building and interviewing were all a part of McGowan's DECA experience in high school.

DECA is a business and marketing club with 115 members at Grand Island High School and has even started up a chapter with MaryJane Fonte for eighth-graders at Veronica Connor Middle School this year.

In closing, McGowan recommended joining DECA to students pursuing any career field, in order to help them be better communicators and ready for the world of work.