It costs $1,465 to send one Wareham student to the international Distributive Education Clubs of America conference in Orlando, Florida. On April 24, Wareham High School will send 24 students to the conference, the most in school history.

To combat the high costs of airfare, hotel accommodations and conference fees, Cindy Sylvia, a DECA program advisor for the past 19 years, set up a GoFundMe webpage. She decided to share it on her Facebook page to see if it would gain some traction. Within 24 hours, her former DECA students had donated almost $2,300.

“It was an overpowering weekend when I saw my former students step to the plate,” Sylvia said. “To watch who they’ve become as people, to see their generosity and their kindness, is unreal.”

DECA is a co-curricular business and marketing club at the High School that helps students develop professional skills. Throughout the year, students compete at local, state and national level conferences. Last year there were 60 students in the club and four qualified for nationals. This year there are nearly 200 kids in the club and 24 will go to nationals.

The organization still has a way to go on the fundraising front. Sylvia said the group will only be charging its students $700 to $800 to go, which still leaves the organization to pick up a tab of $600 to $700 per student -- “a big financial hit for the organization,” Sylvia said.

“I told all the kids that money wasn’t going to be a reason they couldn’t attend,” Sylvia said. “We have a little nest egg we can tap into. It’s gonna be close, but we’re going to pull it off.”

Despite the tight financial situation, students like Nathaniel Moore, 18, are very excited.

“At the same time, it’s nerve-wracking -- overwhelming, because of how many kids are going to be there,” said Moore, who will be competing in the entrepreneurship and innovation category against about 2,000 other students from across the world. “It’s just going to be me, being on my A-game, and trying to beat everyone else.”

According to Sylvia, there will be 16,000 students at the conference.

“It is the biggest pep rally you’ve ever seen, circled around being academically and professionally challenged,” said Sylvia, laughing.

But Sylvia said she feels there is a difference between DECA and Wareham DECA. She said the students see it as a family -- and she does, too.

“I keep every photo that’s been left to me over the last 19 years on a wall,” said Sylvia. “I really look at that wall every day. It’s like your family photo album.”

To help send Wareham’s DECA students to the conference, go to: http://www.gofundme.com/warehamdeca