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Danvers DECA students head to international conference, launch fundraising to create Colleen Ritzer Memorial Library mural
Summary
Danvers High School's DECA chapter reported district and state competition results, described student projects and community partnerships, and introduced a student‑led campaign to raise about $30,000 for a mural and plaque to rename the high school library in memory of Colleen Ritzer.
Danvers High School's DECA chapter presented results from a busy competition season and outlined a student‑led fundraising campaign to create a memorial mural and rename the high school library for Colleen Ritzer.
DECA advisor Megan Buller told the committee the chapter is longstanding and large: 267 DHS students competed at the district level this year; 142 advanced to the Massachusetts State Career Development Conference and roughly 40 students qualified to represent Danvers at the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Orlando. Student teams and officers described projects ranging from financial literacy programs and school‑store entrepreneurship to a sales project that produced custom dog bandanas sold locally.
Students from DECA then presented a fundraising plan under the banner “Be Kind Legacy” to support renaming the high school library the Colleen Ritzer Memorial Library and installing a mural and plaque the students said would preserve Ritzer’s memory for future students. The student presenters said they had researched vendors and found a firm called White Light Visual and estimated the total project cost at about $30,000, which would include the mural and a plaque. The students described a multi‑stream fundraising plan: a calendar raffle during April/May (coinciding with Ritzer's birthday month), merchandise (hoodies, quarter‑zips) produced by students in the DECA school store with a newly acquired heat press, community solicitations of families and businesses across Danvers and the North Shore, and using an online fundraising platform (GiveButter) to centralize donations and event ticketing.
Students asked the committee for help with publicity and confirmed the district can host a GiveButter account under “Friends of DECA” to collect and track donations; district staff indicated that using the district‑approved platform would allow accountability and simplify reporting. Committee members and attendees praised the student presentations and their outreach to younger grades: DECA students described programs that worked with elementary and middle school students to build financial literacy and leadership pipelines.
Committee members asked about logistics: the students said White Light Visual had reviewed the site and provided a cost estimate; they planned a mural reveal at the start of the following school year to avoid in‑session disruption. District staff and the committee offered to promote the students’ fundraising pages and to provide administrative access to the Friends of DECA account so the team could track ticket purchases and donations.
Provenance (selected excerpts)
Topic intro excerpt: "Thank you. You can put the first 1 on if you'd like. Thank you again for having us here. We've had another fabulous year at DECA" (transcript time ~1029.70).
Topic finish excerpt: "So please let us know how we can help advertise, get the word out. We're just so proud of you. Thank you." (transcript time ~2633.68).
