DECA: Guiding Students to Their Futures

Written by mindy.haesemeyer on . Posted in Newspaper.

Story by Bailee Council – Assistant Editor

  On Feb. 11, thousands of students from various schools gathered at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to partake in the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) Districts. Twelve students from Lee’s Summit North High advanced to state. 

   “Overall, I am so proud of all the students and their hard work. I think we learned a lot from this year’s districts, what events to compete in next year, and different ways to prepare,” Katie Wilson, DECA head advisor, said. 

   DECA prepares students not only for the marketing world but also for emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. DECA’s core values and attributes are competence, innovation, integrity, and teamwork; all of which helped students like Miles Milton, junior, to advance. DECA helps students develop leadership, teamwork, and critical thinking skills. This program also provides students with opportunities to gain industry experience. 

   “Just take it seriously because you never know where it is going to go…being outgoing in general, creative, and working in a lot of areas that relate around business and generating ideas helped me a lot,” Milton said. 

   The potential to earn travel opportunities, recognition, scholarships, and even DECA Glass for learning classroom content makes it all the more motivating. With a combination of nearly 60 role-play, prepared, and online events, DECA offers a competitive event for every course and every member.

   “Seeing students get excited when they win, even students that don’t seem excited to participate, to watch them get pumped up is the best!” Wilson said. 

    DECA greatly benefits students, teachers, schools, and the community. From case studies and activities to use in the classroom and access to cutting-edge teacher professional development, DECA is aligned with Career and Technical Education goals to help support your program and curriculum. For beginners, events to consider are individual series events and team decision-making events. As you might expect, individual series events are perfect for those who prefer working alone. These events test your knowledge and skills in specific business areas, such as retail merchandising or hospitality. The topics are more focused, allowing you to concentrate on a single area of expertise. Team Decision Making Events, on the other hand, involve working with a partner or as a team to solve a business problem. These events encourage collaboration and allow you to share the workload. If you enjoy teamwork and brainstorming, this could be a great choice.

 

Photo courtesy of Ms. Wilson

Comments (13)

Comments are closed.