Wareham’s students won nearly twice as many medals this year as they did last year at the first Distributive Education Clubs of America competition of 2016.

The 104-student “force to be reckoned with” won 48 medals at the regional competition, held at the Boston-Quincy Marriott on Jan. 7 – 8, said group co-advisor Cindy Sylvia.

The Distributive Education Clubs of America is a nonprofit student organization that prepares students for the world of business and finance, and holds competitions to test their skills.

For the competition, the students underwent rigorous 100-question exams, as well as role playing business scenarios for which they only had 10 minutes to prepare. There were about 960 other students against which Wareham students competed, Sylvia said.

Of the group, six Wareham students took first place in their categories, Sylvia said. Moreover, all three of the students who were the top combined testing scorers in their categories were from Wareham.

“Those students were Paige Fehskens, Joe Nash, and Jayla Silva,” Sylvia said. “[The other students] were good and bright, but we were better.”

Sylvia said even the two eighth graders, whom she had just wanted to garner experience, won awards.

“Matt Moda ended up ninth in his category, so he could be going to State,” Sylvia said. “Josh Flaherty got second place overall in one of his tests.”

But it wasn’t just about the awards. Sylvia also said the Wareham students showed great pride in their school, and not only had each other’s backs, but other schools’, as well.

“They were cheering for new schools who hadn’t been there before, and didn’t have a lot of people with them,” Sylvia said. “That speaks to the kinds of people we have here.”

Sylvia also said the students gave up their breakfast to cheer on the special needs students who were in attendance at this year’s competition, and gave them a standing ovation.

And it’s the individualized emotional support of the group, too, that makes Sylvia proud: she recalled one student, a varsity hockey player, was so overcome with emotion when he stepped off the stage, that the other students literally had to hold him up, because “he was so moved.”

“Another student who lost his mother last year came up to me and gave me a hug, and said, ‘Sylv, I know my mother would have been so proud of me right now,’” Sylvia said. “You can’t script moments like that.”