Cyndee Barkley was named Pennsylvania DECA Advisor of the Year.

Lehigh Career & Technical Institute teacher Cyndee Barkley, dubbed “Momma B” by her students, has been named Pennsylvania DECA Advisor of the Year.

Barkley, who leads the Lehigh DECA chapter and LCTI’s Marketing & Business Education program, was presented with the award Wednesday (Feb. 20) at the Pennsylvania DECA Career Development Conference in Hershey.

Several of the Lehigh DECA members who nominated Barkley for the award — Dylan Gino, of Catasauqua High School, Wanda Flores Suarez, of Louis E. Dieruff High School, Loan Phung, of William Allen High School and Breanna Stalsitz, of Salisbury High School — were on hand for the presentation.

Barkley, a Reading area resident, has been involved with DECA for decades. As a teenager, she competed with and served as an officer for her Maryland high school’s chapter. The experience inspired her to become a marketing teacher and, of course, a DECA advisor.

Barkley earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing education from the University of Maryland, College Park, and joined the teaching staff at Pottstown High School. While at Pottstown, she earned a master’s degree in business administration at Kutztown University. Eventually, Barkley made the move to LCTI.

During Barkley’s tenure, Lehigh DECA has remained among the state’s largest career and technical school chapters and eight of her students have been selected to serve on Pennsylvania DECA state officer teams. Also, Lehigh DECA became Pennsylvania’s first Gold Certified School-Based Enterprise and has maintained that gold-level certification since.

Over the years, Barkley has collaborated with Junior Achievement and Lehigh Carbon Community College to create leadership and networking opportunities for her chapter members. She’s also active with DECA at the state and national levels. Barkley serves on DECA’s national School-Based Enterprise Advisory Council, is a member of the Pennsylvania DECA Board of Trustees, designed the Chapter Banner event for state competition and more. 

Congratulations on being named advisor of the year, Mrs. Barkley!

PR DECA Advisor 2019

Media Contact: Precious Petty, Public Relations Coordinator, 610-799-1450, pettyp@lcti.org