GLENDALE, Ariz. – Ironwood High School students, Abigail Herrera, Fatima Ijaz and Haylee Braha, are the first-place winners of the national Adobe Food Truck Challenge hosted by DECA, a Career and Technical Student Organization (CTSO) for high school students enrolled in marketing, finance or hospitality courses. The team won $6,000 and will be recognized on stage during DECA’s International Career Development Conference April 25-28, 2026, in Atlanta, Ga.
The Adobe Food Truck Challenge, sponsored by Adobe, provides an opportunity for teams, consisting of three to four DECA members, to develop a comprehensive food truck concept that includes branding, truck design, menu creation and social media marketing using Adobe Express tools. Supported by their business teacher and DECA advisor, Mrs. Kristine Kwant, this challenge required these students to demonstrate skills in market research, branding and entrepreneurship, while building skills in communication, collaboration, creativity, innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, initiative and media literacy.
“This is an exciting achievement for Ironwood High School DECA students and serves as an incredible example of the impact career and technical education has on students in Peoria Unified,” said Chad Eichenlaub, Director of Career and Technical Education in Peoria Unified.
As an intra-curricular component of Career and Technical Education (CTE), CTSOs support student learning through competitive events that allow them to demonstrate the technical skills they learn in the classroom while building the professional skills sought by employers. To learn more about CTE in Peoria Unified, visit www.peoriaunified.org/cte.
The Peoria Unified School District has 43 neighborhood schools, including one virtual school designed to meet the needs of all preK-12th grade students. For the past 135 years, Peoria Unified has been an Arizona public school district of choice, where students can receive a high-quality education rooted in the values that their families share. Students experience the best in academics, athletics and arts education where education is personalized to meet the needs of each child. Peoria Unified invests in programs which prepare every student for a successful future, including free full-day kindergarten, special education, gifted education and career and technical education. To continue its long history of success, the district maintains its focus on five key components of its strategic framework: Student Success, Learning and Teaching, Safety and Wellness, Stewardship of Resources and Parent and Community Engagement. The Peoria Unified School District continuously pursues its vision of “Every student, every day, prepared to shape tomorrow.”