DECA is a business club run by Business Department Chair Rachel Jones. Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) is a competitive club with a range of business events open to students. Some of these events include marketing, personal financial literacy, finance, hospitality and tourism, business management and administration, and entrepreneurship. Among these career clusters there are a myriad of events to compete in.

The DECA season begins at the start of the school year with meetings held during impact along with your chapter AKA the rest of the club members. During the first semester you get to learn a lot about the competitions, sponsorships, and you get in a lot of practice time.

To put it into perspective, you are given a scenario in your cluster then 10 minutes for prep time. After you present to a judge and then wait for your placement. All competitions take place during the second semester. Regionals are in January and your placement decides if you move on to state or not.

The regional competition is an awesome opportunity to network and make friends with the chapters nearby. As for the state competition better known as State Career Development Conference it typically takes place in March. You get to stay Downtown for 2 nights and compete against schools all around the state.

State is highly competitive, especially if your event is popular. Your placement here decides if you go on to compete at the International Career Development Conference.

This year my advisor gave me the coolest opportunity ever to compete at ICDC held in Anaheim, CA for the School Based Enterprise Food Operations on behalf of the Spirit Shop. It was truly a surreal experience to be alongside 23,000 students and advisors for ICDC.

In April, SCDC students from all across the globe travel to Florida, Georgia, or California where the conference is held.

The first day in California we visited DECA shop and did some prepping for our event. We also traded pins with other students in the front yard of the convention center because every state gets pins individual to their state. For it being the first night I had successfully traded all my pins and met so many students from other states. The opening session was so cool because we got to meet the regional presidents of US DECA and we got to see only half the capacity of the conference.

Dressing up nice, meeting other people, trading pins, and hearing “where are you from?” are all part of the experience. 

The next day we had a networking event where we got to hear from 3 speakers and meet other School Based Enterprise competitors who also had stores like the Spirit Shop. It was very cool to see what was provided to students around the US. On the more relaxed side we also got to enjoy the pool and go out to dinner with our advisor.

For Monday we got up bright and early to prepare for our presentation. There was lots of waiting and walking around between the other SBEs to figure out exactly when it was our time to go. After presenting we went to Disney Adventure Park for DECA night. Entrance isn’t always guaranteed since there are hundreds of schools trying to visit the park in a span of 4 days. Luckily our advisor scored us tickets for DECA night and Disneyland.

On our last day we got up very early to go to Disneyland and we closed off our day with the award session at night. It was a long 4 days full of fun and learning. ICDC is different for every chapter, but this is just the way BD did it this year.

I would recommend anyone interested in the business/finance world to join DECA as early as you can. For others without an interest in business it’s also an amazing opportunity to meet new people, expand your horizons, and learn more about the business world.

No matter if you’re a sophomore just entering high school, a junior trying out new things, or a senior finalizing your extracurriculars DECA is an excellent club with lots of learning.