Jackson Paternoster ’22 finished third in the Food & Restaurant Marketing event at DECA Nationals in Atlanta in April, leading a New Mexico delegation that placed five participants in the finals, including Jackson and two Academy teammates. “More than 3,500 students started out competing in Jackson’s event,” said Coach Bruce Orem. “After district, state, and international competition winnowed down the competitors, Jackson finished on the podium. He is the first student from New Mexico in eight years to podium in any event – a pretty incredible achievement and a testament to the hard work he’s put in over his three years as part of the Academy’s DECA team.”
Ankit Jaiswal ’22 (Hotel & Lodging Management) and Felipe Canaca ’24 (Principles of Marketing) also represented New Mexico in the finals.
The 23 members of the Academy DECA team that qualified for nationals were among 17,000 from around the U.S. and 16 other countries at the event.
Rahim Alidina ’22
Felipe Canaca ’24
AJ Das ’22
Joaquin Deprez ’22
Kiera Friedman ’23
Ankit Jaiswal ’22
Oliver Kumar ’22
Serlha Kundeling ’24
Spencer Lyon ’23
Averee Martinez ’22
Isabel Orem ’22
Jackson Paternoster ’22
Alex Patton ’24
Naima Pyarali. ’22
George Rule ’23
Sanchit Singh ’22
Quint Stein ’23
Wyatt Sterba ’22
Mia Thomas ’22
Hallie Vigil. ’23
Sierra Wang ’23
Sofia Wolinski ’22
William Yun ’23
