www.ellwoodcityledger.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20313894 -
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Published on: 5/12/2009
Last Visited: 5/13/2009
NORTH SEWICKLEY TWP. - For more than 30 years, Robert Nathan has been adviser for Riverside High School's DECA chapter.
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In that time, he has seen hundreds of his students ascend the stage with top-10 finishes at international DECA conferences.
But he had never gone up to the stage himself.
Until this year.
Nathan, who retired in 2008 as a business teacher at Riverside, was one of two DECA sponsors in the world to receive Outstanding Service awards this year.
The conference was April 24 to May 3 in Anaheim, Calif., and included more than 13,000 participants from all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico, Canada, Dubai, Germany and Mexico.
Although officials from Pennsylvania's DECA chapter knew about the honor, they successfully kept it from Nathan until the awards ceremony rehearsal.
"That was the first time I've ever stood on stage," Nathan said.
Junior Deidre Herge, who was one of four Riverside entrants to earn top-10 finishes at this year's international conference, said Nathan wasn't prepared for the surprise.
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Nathan was more interested in talking about Herge's performance, as well as those of Josh Wise, Zach Wise and Dimitri Radevski, who had a top-10 finish in the creative marketing category.
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Nathan said Herge's work was solid, not only at the conference but during a presentation for Zambelli executives.
"They were not only impressed, but they said the ideas were feasible," Nathan said.
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Nathan said she was disappointed the last two years after not making it onto the stage for a top-10 finish, after finishing first and second, respectively, in the Pennsylvania conferences.
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Their fathers, Mike Wise and Roger Radevski, were DECA standouts for Nathan at Riverside and close friends back in the 1980s.
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Nathan said he couldn't recall any other time when a third-place state conference entry earned a top-10 at the international conference.
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And the team practiced its presentation relentlessly, Nathan said.
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"When they presented to me, I said, 'I'm not shocked that you made the 16,' " Nathan said.
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