By early March, numerous students in the Distributive Education Clubs of America, commonly known as DECA, will know if they qualified for international competitions. DECA is a club where students get to learn about different aspects of forming and running a business and get to compete against others from all around the country. The travel opportunities that DECA provides are commonly known, but the details of the work that goes into said travel opportunities are often overlooked.
DECA is an introduction to the business industry, which is not only about the business itself but also about the social aspects. The networking can be extensive, and through that, an individual must learn to carry themselves in a professional and self-assured manner.
“The trips are the first and foremost; that’s what gets everyone’s attention, including mine,” CKHS DECA President Annika Pexton said. “I think what people start to realize once they’re a part of the club is people. You get to meet so many cool people, and learn how to work with people, conflict resolution, learn how to network. After the people, there’s a lot of confidence that can be built through DECA. I’ve seen it in myself as I have grown as a competitor; my confidence in all other aspects of my life has improved. The third thing is getting to actually learn about business. Business skills, regardless of whether you’re going into a business degree after school or you intend on owning or being a part of a business, it’s important to have a fundamental understanding of how the business world works. It helps you to understand everything else.”
The competitions vary with different events for different angles of business. Within the topics of Entrepreneurship, Finance, Hospitality, Marketing, and Business Management and Administration, there are even more specific events for everyone to find what they enjoy learning about. For every topic, there is a multiple-choice exam and a “role play,” which is a presentation in front of a judge, where students apply knowledge to a realistic scenario. Not only is a deep understanding of the event necessary, but “performing” as an employee in a business is a big factor in succeeding.
“A mindset to succeed at DECA is trying to look outside the box,” CKHS DECA adviser Brian Oathout said. “Especially when you’re competing and you’re doing role plays, you’re gonna sit down in front of a judge who you don’t know. They don’t know you. How can you make an impact on them? What kind of ideas can you come up with based on your role play to blow them out of the water and [display] out-of-the-box thinking?”
With the social aspect of DECA, members get a chance to get creative. However, an in-depth comprehension of the event is still demanded to understand the questions and scenarios that appear. Entailed in preparing for the objective parts of DECA is assigning personal homework and research into a topic, such as Business Finance, Accounting Applications, Automotive Services Marketing, Retail Merchandising, and so many more specific events, making it important to hone in on the details.
“For my primary event, which is Business Finance, I study for the multiple-choice exam by going through the practice exams, and I take a chunk of questions at a time, and then I break it down and try and reason each multiple-choice answer with myself,” Pexton said. “I make sure I have a really good understanding of the vocabulary. If I don’t understand the question or any of the answers, I go and do a little bit more research into it. I also use Quizlet to do some quick questions. For the role play itself, I have a compiled list of performance indicators that I have extracted from the DECA Finance performance indicator list. So I go through those, define them, and practice incorporating them into a role play situation.”
The field trips that DECA members go on are appealing, and the work is rewarding. Although the events can be intimidating, taking the initiative is endorsed. Meeting new people, learning about the business industry, and building a lot of life skills are valuable opportunities that DECA can provide.
“It’s really fun,” DECA Treasurer Ava Chadwick said. “When I joined, I didn’t know anything. My second year in DECA I got first place in my event area. So, you’ll be able to learn a lot.”
