The Baldwin County School District is proud to recognize the outstanding achievements of three Baldwin High School 2025 honors graduates who earned national honors at the DECA International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Florida, held April 26–29. They were formally recognized at Baldwin County School District’s June 10 board meeting.
Tene’ Brimm, Heymi Arguello Espinoza, and Leslie Perez Vasquez represented Baldwin High School at the global event, which brought together over 26,000 student leaders and advisors from across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, China, and beyond.
Each of the Baldwin students earned the right to attend ICDC after exceptional performances at the Georgia DECA Competition in January: Tene’ Brimm placed third in Apparel and Accessories Marketing at the State DECA Competition and received an Award of Excellence at ICDC for her role plays and cluster exam.
Heymi Arguello Espinoza, who placed 11th at the state level in her Integrated Marketing Campaign Event, also earned an Award of Excellence for her prepared presentation and exam.
Leslie Perez Vasquez, a Top 10 finisher in a Georgia- only competition, was selected for the Aspire Workshop Series, an elite leadership development opportunity at ICDC.
All three students additionally received National DECA Emerging Leader Honor Awards and have each earned numerous DECA medals throughout the year.
“They have gone above and beyond through their time in DECA and made immense contributions their senior year as executive officers,” said Kristin Grebel, first-year DECA Advisor. “These girls are destined to continue their greatness as they attend universities across the state in the fall.”
This year marks a historic return for Baldwin High School’s DECA chapter. According to Grebel, no Baldwin student had qualified for ICDC since 2017, and never have two competitors and a third workshop attendee been represented in the same year.
“To have two qualify for competition and a third to hit Top 10 in the state shows the impact of their individual drive and determination that was supported by numerous educators, family members, and peers,” added Grebel, “These girls have set a standard we will try to uphold and have left a lifelong legacy for our DECA chapter.
The initial ‘win’ for us was making it to ICDC after all these years - the bigger win was having the support of our community as we moved forward to make history.”
— Contributed