A team of 27 Kettering University students participated virtually in the DECA International Career Development Conference. The conference was April 13-17 with the Grand Awards Session on April 22.

More than 1,000 students from 120 colleges and universities of 26 states and Ontario, Canada competed in business and entrepreneurship events. Kettering had the largest team of students representing Michigan, and the seventh-largest collegiate DECA chapter represented at the international competition.

Fourteen Kettering students placed as finalists, while Brooklyn Crowder (’21 BA) and Andrew Gomez (’20 ME) placed third internationally in the Professional Sales category and the Emerging Technology Marketing Strategies category, respectively.

Honors student Pietro Pellerito (’21, Applied Mathematics) was accepted into the Economics doctoral program at Notre Dame University.

Pellerito applied to and was accepted to eight other schools, but chose Notre Dame for its collaborative environment, strong faculty and best incentives, he said.

Attending Kettering helped him realize his love of learning and research.

“I don’t think I would be here if it wasn’t for the whole University support that they gave me,” Pellerito said. “There are a bunch of people I thanked, and I’m glad I came here because it’s led me down a really great road.”

Members of the Theta Xi fraternity collected thousands of old, plastic grocery bags and transformed them into balls of plastic yarn.

The yarn will be donated to Detroit-based charity Motor City Mitten Mission and will be crocheted into sleeping mats and pillows for the homeless in Detroit.