Competing in categories ranging from accounting to finance to retail management, 92 Wareham High School students brought home 64 medals, and 57 students will be heading to the state conference, following the DECA district competition held in Falmouth last week.

DECA, the Distributive Education Clubs of America, is an extracurricular club that helps students gain marketing knowledge and skills needed to build a strong business background, Wareham High School student Paige Vespa reported.

Held at the Sea Crest Resort and Conference Center in Falmouth on Jan. 10 and 11, the district competition required students to take two written, 100-question tests. Individual competitors completed a prepared role-play -- a mock job interview -- and an unprepared role-play, in which students are given a case study and have 10 minutes to brainstorm a solution.

Team competitions have students preparing a promotional plan to market a service or product, and participating in a 30-minute unprepared role-play.

Seniors Megan Fitzgerald and Lauren Slaney, who have participated in DECA as a team since they were sophomores, took home a first-place award out of 32 teams.

"We definitely prepared more than we ever have," said Fitzgerald.

In its prepared role-play, the team had to present a plan for expanding a company. Judges were convinced.

"We showed how much we worked for it. We really wanted it," Fitzgerald said of the first-place win.

Other first-place winners were Paige Vespa, Wyatt Harunk, and Nicole Nault. Second-place winners included Wesley Fehskins, Hannagh Jacobson, Brett Labonte, Elizabeth St. Germaine, and Kelley Peterson. Tom Lemieux, Katie Modlowski, Mackenzie Connell, Anna Richard, Allison Wallace took home third-place awards.

Sixty Wareham High students also took home plaques for placing in the top ten best scores in their respective categories.

DECA's state conference is scheduled for March 14.

Wareham High School student Paige Vespa contributed to this report.