Lily Wu is a Wichita East Class of 2003 graduate. She was a
three year member and served as Kansas DECA President her senior year in high
school. Lily graduated summa cum laude with two degrees from Wichita State
University in 2007 earning a bachelor's of business administration in
international business and a bachelor's of arts in integrated marking
communication. Upon graduation Lily went on to earn a master's in journalism
from the University of Hong Kong, while being a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in
Asia. Lily is currently a reporter for KAKE-TV, the ABC affiliate, in Wichita,
Kansas. She is active in our community volunteering her time for a variety of organizations. Lily credits the marketing skills and presentation skills she
learned during her DECA years for helping her in college and in beyond.
Blake Phillips graduated from Wichita East High School in December of 2007 and in
the fall of 2008 he traveled to Los Angeles in pursuit of a career in
entertainment writing. Upon his initial arrival he began working as an un-paid
intern and through hard work and long hours worked his way up to the Associate
Producer position of his first full-length feature film. In the meantime Blake
began producing and financing his own pilot that he wrote while at East High
School. Although the pilot was shot on high-quality cameras, and was well
developed & casted, the financing was lacking for the most crucial phase in
production, editing. Meetings, sweat-equity, dinner parties and a series of
fortunate good luck, led him to partnering with successful entrepreneurs that
believed in his vision for a project he had been developing over the past six
months; WHITE T. After preparing a proper budget and business plan, he was
awarded with an investment to begin pre-production and principle photography on
his first created by: feature film. Nearly three years later, White T is
complete and is preparing a theatrical release in 20 states across the U.S.
Blake has prepared a follow-up sequel as well as a complete first-season
television sitcom in which he plans to shoot in Wichita some time soon. Blake
credits DECA and the marketing classes he took in high school for igniting his
passion in business. Blake’s recommendations would be to get these students
involved in business classes, marketing, and DECA even earlier. He says “I can’t imagine functioning in the business world today without
the fast-track this program put me on.”
Saad Syed graduated from Wichita East High School in 2008
and is currently in school studying Aerospace Engineering. While he works as a
Product Analyst/IT Lead for an ecommerce company, he’s in the midst of jump
starting both Saad Syed Designs and Saad Syed Photography. He gives DECA credit
for exposing him to marketing experiences he uses daily in his current position
as they search for new products, experiment with new products, create marketing
campaigns, and keep up with market demands. DECA is also part of what gave Saad
the confidence and experience necessary to get his own small businesses up and
running. Saad’s favorite memory about DECA the time he spent at ICDC in Atlanta
in 2008.
.JPG)
.JPG)
