Portola High’s Business Club held its sixth annual business DECA MiniCon-its largest and most inclusive MiniCon to date-bringing together around 80 students from multiple schools on Oct. 8, 2025. This year also marked the first MiniCon under a new business teacher and DECA adviser, Robert Stowell.
The MiniCon consisted of six categories: sports and entertainment marketing and hospitality services, entrepreneurship, business finance, business services marketing, and principles of business administration.
The Entrepreneurship winner was sophomore and Irvine High student, David Lee. The business finance winner was Audrey Hsiao. The business services marketing winner was Tia Nilaver. The principles of business administration winner was Sofia Rabih. The sports and entertainment marketing winner were Ian Zhang and Shivangi Kumari (team). The hospitality services winner were Allie Kim and Angela Yu (team).
The conference was student-run, with the business board being responsible for planning every piece of the event. Stowell said that he was struck by how capable and organized his students were in executing such a large event.
“This was my first year, and I was impressed to see our own student board successfully plan every element on their own,” Stowell said. “They met during class time and they planned everything, from the buildings and presentation to the slides, the documents, the parent judges, food, registration — all of it.”
Each competitor began with a 50-question multiple-choice test, assessing their business knowledge in their respective categories. Afterward, they participated in a 10-minute roleplay, preparing and presenting business solutions to the judges. The judges then evaluated competitors on problem solving, critical thinking, presentation skills and mastery of performance indicators.
“My role was managing everything, making sure the whole conference ran smoothly and that everyone was where they needed to be,” Nair said. “A lot of my work involved keeping track of assignments, checking that students were in the right events and making sure the timing stayed on schedule.”
Many participants concluded the MiniCon having gained important skills that support their future careers in business. David Lee said that the MiniCon helped him gain confidence and develop his presentation skills.
“I learned that confidence is key,” Lee said. “When you’re talking to someone, [confidence] can make your ideas stronger and more convincing.”
Despite conflicting with the SAT exam, in which some participants arrived slightly late, the MiniCon still ran smoothly and successfully, even finishing early, according to Nair. Teachers, advisers, and student leaders praised the conference as a smooth, low-pressure introduction to DECA. Student leaders mentioned that there were no real flaws in the conference, but that they hope to add more judges and reduce wait times for students who finished their presentations early.
