Previously, the team also competed in the regional Silicon Valley District Career Development Conference from Jan. 5-7.

DECA Inc. is a national organization that prepares high school and college students for careers in business management and administration, entrepreneurship, finance, hospitality and tourism, marketing, and finance literacy. To prepare for conferences, the Gunn DECA team holds online and in- person study sessions and has a mentoring system.

SCDC team finalist junior Jennifer Bukchin competed in the Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making event, taking a business-administration exam and participating in a partner case study at SCDC. To prepare, she completed practice tests, studied key terms and used flashcards to learn vocabulary. Her partner read books and articles to keep up with business trends.

Bukchin enjoys bonding with the DECA community during competitions.

鈥淢y favorite memory is definitely Door-Dashing food at night,鈥� she said. 鈥淔or States, I also liked going to Disneyland. I was there with friends (and) I got to see fireworks, do all the rides (and) get some good food.鈥�

The Idaho regional competition comprised practice matches, qualifications and playoffs. During the qualifications, robots accrued ranking points for a chance to compete in the playoffs, which determined the event winners.
After the first round of qualifications,
GRT 鈥� registered under the team number
192 鈥� was in 43rd place of 43 teams due to
repeated control failures. After all rounds
of qualifications, however, GRT was in 20th
place, and was selected to join Alliance 7 by

the alliance captain, team 2122.
In the final best-of-three rounds, GRT鈥檚
alliance and the opposing alliance each won
one match, leading to a final tiebreaker that
ended with a score of 103 for Alliance 7 and
97 for Alliance 1.
Learning from past mistakes allowed the
team to be successful this year, according to
Safety Captain junior Amelia Perry.
鈥淲e have a system to pass information to
future years, which is why we have lasted so
long as a team,鈥� she said.
As the regional winners, GRT and their
alliance captain team 2122 from Boise, Idaho,
will continue to the April 17 to 20 FIRST world
championship in Houston, Texas.

Estrada Nakamatsu鈥檚 parents first introduced her to the Marinera to help her and her sister connect to their culture. Although Nakamatsu sometimes disliked attending practices, she eventually grew to love expressing her emotions and culture through dance.

鈥淚 was the only Peruvian at my elementary school for around four years, which made me feel very isolated and scared to represent my own culture,鈥� Estrada Nakamatsu said. 鈥淚t was kind of hard to try to accept my culture and be proud of it (because of) the really deep seated fear of being judged. As I got older, I definitely started to become more proud of my culture. Now, I鈥檓 very open. I love to show it off.鈥�

Through the Marinera Nortena community, Estrada Nakamatsu surrounds herself with people who share her Peruvian culture, giving her a sense of belonging. The excitement that comes with dancing gives her an opportunity to cherish her culture.

鈥淪ometimes, I鈥檓 so focused on the excitement of the dance that I block out the cheers of my family and I鈥檓 completely in a state of happiness,鈥� she said.

Estrada Nakamatsu participates in several competitions during the year, though schoolwork and parent availability limit the number of practices and competitions she can attend.

鈥淚 was really happy to be (at the Marinera Siempre Juntos competition in January) because I hadn鈥檛 competed in such a long time,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 got a lot of compliments, and it felt really good to be in traditional wear.鈥�

Competitions usually consist of three pairs dancing while four to six judges watch, with multiple rounds if necessary. Pairs are judged based on the spontaneity (the personality of the dance), grace, coordination and zapateo (the footwork). Through these competitions, however, she鈥檚 had to face the hard truth that certain dancers pay to win, even at the major national championship in Peru.

鈥淚t鈥檚 clear when someone who wins first place only won because they paid or because the judges weren鈥檛 good at deciding,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes it gets super frustrating that you just want to cry, because you鈥檝e worked so hard and you have so much experience just to lose against someone that isn鈥檛 as experienced as you are.鈥�

Despite this challenge, Estrada Nakamatsu continues to dance at competitions and for her own enjoyment.

鈥淚 basically just want to have fun,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 love to represent my culture. One day, I want to maybe even go to Gunn in my traditional clothing that I dance with to be able to show it off and be able to see other people wear (their) traditional wear.鈥�