THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604020135
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
WHEN MARKETING TEACHER Lou Horne walked into her first classes at the beginning of the school year in September, she stood at the front of the room, next to a cardboard cutout of Mickey Mouse, and made an announcement:
``I'm going to Disney World!''
Horne didn't win the Olympics, and she didn't play in the Super Bowl. But her prophecy came true.
Later this month, with two of her star marketing pupils who already have made their way through district and state competitions, Horne will head for six days in Orlando at the National DECA Leadership Conference.
``I am so excited and so proud of them,'' she said recently. ``They've really worked hard for this, and it's the first time in the 16 years I've been here at the school that we've had students compete in the national competition.''
The star students are Heather Beaton and Joseph Lyttle, both juniors and second-year marketing students in Horne's class.
Lyttle works - as part of his marketing class - at Food Lion 849 in the Smithfield Shopping Center, where he's a bagger and a cashier.
Beaton is employed by Smithfield Gardens. She recently was promoted to be in charge of greenhouse merchandising. Through classes taken at work, she's well on her way to becoming a Virginia Certified Nurseryman.
Both students, co-vice presidents in the school's 52-member Distributive Education of America Club, get high school credits for their work and for the marketing class. They credit Horne as well as their supervisors at work for their success.
``This program is a bridge between our goals and making our dreams a reality,'' said Lyttle, who plans to go on to college to study marketing.
Since the beginning of the year, when Horne made the announcement that the National DECA conference would be held at Disney World, Beaton, daughter of Martin and Virginia Beaton, and Lyttle, son of Frances Lyttle, have shared the Disney World dream.
The two swept the District 19 Leadership Conference held at Chesapeake Square Mall in January. Lyttle was overall event winner in the food marketing category. He took first place on the comprehensive test and second place in basic social skills.
Beaton was overall event winner in retail merchandising. She won first place in selling and second place in the comprehensive test.
``The written test had questions about economics and pricing,'' Beaton said. ``We also had two role-playing events. We had to go up in front of judges and pretend we were involved in certain situations.''
The district level involved schools from Isle of Wight, Southampton, Franklin, Suffolk and Portsmouth.
``These two came back to class and tried to analyze how they did in the competition,'' Horne said. ``They continued to research and try to find answers.''
The state competition was held in March in Williamsburg. Both Lyttle and Beaton came out of the competition confident they had done well, Horne said.
``It was very, very businesslike, professional at all times,'' Lyttle said. ``It was as if we were already actually in the business world.''
Both students, again, won in the state competition and assured themselves a Disney World spot.
Since the state contests, Horne said, Beaton and Lyttle have continued to try to improve their image and their expertise.
``We've pulled everything we can find on food marketing and retail merchandising for them to study,'' Horne said. ``We've ordered materials from state and national DECA. We've studied case problems and situations they've used in past years. Other schools have even been sending materials for them to study.''
The entire DECA Club at Smithfield High has gotten behind them, too, selling candy and participating in fund-raisers to help pay for sending their vice presidents to the national conference.
Horne, Beaton, Lyttle and Reuben Johns, coordinator of vocational education for the county schools, will leave for Florida April 26. The entire trip for the four will cost about $4,000, Horne said.
The School Board has offered to partially fund the trip. The rest of the money must be raised by the students. Contributions, Horne said, would be gratefully accepted.
For more information, call Horne at Smithfield High School, 357-3108. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Heather Beaton and Joseph Lyttle, second-year marketing students,
will participate in the national DECA conference.
by CNB