Stone Bridge DECA history was after seniors Sukhi Mahadevan, Ved Bhandare, and Ishita Sharma earned 1st place in the entire world for their community project, HerVoice.
On April 28, the annual DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) was held in Atlanta, GA, full of aspiring young entrepreneurs from all over the world fighting for the first place award. Marking the first time a Stone Bridge student has ever been awarded first place, Mahadevan, Bhandare, and Sharma set a high standard for future DECA members after three years of building this project.
In 2024, after the project failed to qualify for the international conference, HerVoice, a nonprofit that raises awareness and support for survivors of domestic abuse, worked to qualify in 2025. While HerVoice qualified for ICDC in 2025, the team was unable to place. With reminders of their past losses ringing in their minds, the three Bulldogs had extra determination to see their hard work pay off for their senior year.
“Last year, our team had more generic events that had an average impact on the community,” Bhandare said. “This year, we made sure to have more unique events such as the Snowcoming Charity Gala and Self Defense class that were able to make a greater impact beyond just Stone Bridge and in the Loudoun County community.”
The team’s major focus for this year was on community impact because the trio wanted to ensure that HerVoice was truly reaching people in need. Through raising more money than the previous years, interviewing an Epstein survivor, and continuing to spread their message, these seniors undoubtedly impacted anyone who has been affected by domestic violence.
“Impact is something that we changed a lot because we refocused on actually connecting with people,” Mahadevan said. “Then we had an interview with the Washington news and South Asian Herald, which is a radio show. We reached like 200,000-250,000 listeners there.”
Additionally, through events like the charity gala, the group managed to tangibly benefit survivors of domestic abuse by raising as much money as possible.
“We made $10,000 on our own through local business sponsorships and gala tickets,” Mahadevan said. “We were able to get like that matched to $86,000, which was a really huge deal.”
Aside from the work they did for the nonprofit, Mahadeva, Bhandare, and Sharma still had to craft an intelligent and cohesive report and performance for the DECA judges at ICDC. The HerVoice members ingrained their script into their heads so that there was no doubt in their minds they would mess up.
“Our secret to success was to practice, practice, and practice,” Bhandare said. “We met everyday for the 10 days before ICDC to memorize our script, so we were 100% ready when we got to Atlanta and could focus on our delivery.”
After stressing over the results and preparing as much as possible for the international competition, the last hurdle the team had to face was standing on stage with 199 other contestants. Surrounded by some of the smartest teenagers in the world, the trio’s expectations were pretty low.
“I never expected to get 1st place because ICDC is just an incredibly competitive environment,” Sharma said. “However, I did feel confident in our written and our presentation after we went because we prepared so much.”
With more than 25.000 students at this conference, a first place win is almost unfathomable. However, it made the feeling of victory even better.
“I think people that compete in DECA understand how difficult it is to do something like that, because we’re competing with other countries and you go to ICDC and everyone’s so locked in with crazy props and crazy impact and just at that same level as you,” Mahadevan said. “I remember when we heard our names, it was surreal. It’s just a feeling that I’ve really worked hard for something and I’ve gotten it.”
HerVoice’s record setting win meant so much to the team and all of the people they have been able to impact through community events, donations, and more. To leave high school on such a high note and see all of the seniors’ hard work pay off is a moment the HerVoice team will never forget.
“The win means so much for HerVoice because it started as something so small three years ago, and now it has turned into this huge thing,” Sharma said. “We started planning this project in July and created a timeline for the year, so seeing that return on investment with how much hard work we’ve put in, it’s just amazing.”
