The Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) is predominantly known for being a business-oriented club that focuses on competing, networking and developing viable leadership skills through real-world professional applications. The Wakefield High School chapter of DECA encompasses nothing short of the matter with a dedicated group of leaders continuously utilizing their skills to prepare for the upcoming competition at Nationals from April 26-29 in Orlando, FL.
The club consists of four main sectors in which contestants compete: finance, marketing, hospitality and business management; all of which go hand-in-hand with acquiring an understanding of business essentials. Junior, vice president of marketing and first place winner at the DECA States competition, Sam Loving, is one of the qualifiers heading to Nationals. He briefly highlights how the competitions are structured.
“It’s set up in a way where you compete a lot [through speeches],” Loving said. “You are given a scenario and you need to come up with proposals [that help to give solutions to the scenario] for a judge.”
For being introduced to the school less than two years ago, the club has gained valuable traction from the student body, helping to shape young minds and increase the aspirations of the next generation of business leaders. Keith Kamau is a junior and one of the vice presidents of DECA who elaborates on the increasing signs of growth for the club.
“It’s a new club [since] we started last year, so we haven’t really set that foundation yet,” Kamau said. “Last year, we only had four people go to states, but this year, we had more than 30, and many people walked away with medals and trophies.”
All of the members of DECA diligently work together as a team to help prepare one another for the competitions and ensure that everyone feels comfortable and confident in their abilities. Junior Nadeen Abdel-Halim, president of DECA, explains how everyone works as a unit.
“There’s a lot of practice case studies on the DECA website, so we’ll sit together, brainstorm or debate individually where then either me or one of the vice presidents will judge them just to get them more comfortable with how it works,” Abdel-Halim said. “We’ll also show them videos and give them quizlets so that they can get familiar with all the terminologies.”
The club also includes specific components for students who are passionate about various subfields within business to take on roles that provide a better understanding of the types of tasks they may cover. Junior Robert Surajnorth is the social media manager for DECA and emphasizes how his role in the club ties into what he wants to do in the future.
“I want to go into graphic design and marketing, so managing social media helps me to practice that a bit,” Surajnoth said.
It is quite evident that DECA has a lot to offer for students, providing them skill sets and support groups that help students to grow, both in the business world and in general.
“DECA has given me a lot of real world experience and skills that are very helpful for understanding business, especially if that’s the area you want to go into in the future,” Abdel-Halim said. “It’s also really helpful for networking and connecting because during those conferences and competitions, you meet a lot of people, whether it’s mentors, other students from different schools or just like-minded peers, so you can really build and gain off each other’s knowledge.”
