Back Cooper's DECA Leadership Path

Hi! My name is Cooper Donovan.

I am 17 years old, and I go to school at Forest Hills Eastern High School in Ada, Michigan.

I was recently elected as Michigan DECA’s State VP of Chapter Development as part of the State Executive Council.

DECA is an international organization that prepares emerging leaders in finance, hospitality, marketing, and management. Think of DECA as a business club for high schoolers around the world. Michigan DECA currently serves over 9,000 high school members. Only 8 get elected to the State Executive Council each year.

As State Vice-President of Chapter Development, I will endure frequent travel with large costs, some already paid for, some not, for various conferences and leadership training trips. For example, I will need to attend the International Career Development Conference this April, which in itself will cost around $1,000.

If you’d like to watch my one-minute election speech that took place with an audience of 4,000+ people, so as to get to know me a little bit better, you can click this link here: https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=michigan%20deca%20friday%20night%202025&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:98cac48a,vid:QTHbTAVNrNM,st:0, or simply Google search “Michigan DECA - State Conference Friday Session, 2025.” Skip to 34:30 for my one-minute speech.

For the next year’s expenses as a Michigan DECA State Officer, my goal is to raise $2,000 to help cover such travel costs.

Would you be interested in contributing a donation or helping connect me with local businesses to help me fundraise so that I can represent West Michigan for Michigan DECA? (Note: only 2 candidates—including myself—were elected that represent the whole western half of Michigan in this year’s election)

Thank you,

Cooper Donovan