At the September meeting of the Gwinnett County Board of Education, several students were recognized for top finishes in national and international competitions.
Nabil Kassam, a senior at North Gwinnett High School, earned 2nd place in the Entrepreneurship Roleplay competition at the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) International Career Development Conference. DECA is an international association of middle school, high school, and college students that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. Through DECA, Gwinnett County Public Schools’ students have the opportunity to participate in leadership development activities and compete in a variety of events on an international level.
Tanaya Pinkston, a 9th grader at McClure Health Science High School, finished 2nd in the Career Preparation competition at the 2021 Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) International Leadership Conference. HOSA provides students with opportunities to develop as leaders and future employees in the health care field. HOSA currently enrolls more than 15,000 members in Georgia and 235,000 members nationwide. Through this organization, Gwinnett County Public Schools’ students have the opportunity to participate in leadership development activities and compete in a variety of events on regional, state, national, and sometimes international levels. Tanaya competed in the middle school division when she was an 8th grader at Shiloh Middle School.
Daniel Jung of Mill Creek High School finished 1st in the Related Technical Math competition at the SkillsUSA national competition. SkillsUSA empowers its members to become world-class workers, leaders, and responsible American citizens. They improve the quality of our nation’s future skilled workforce through the development of SkillsUSA Framework skills that include personal, workplace, and technical skills that are grounded in academics. The vision of this Career and Technical Student Organization is to produce the most highly skilled workforce in the world, providing every member the opportunity for career success.