Thirty three students won awards during the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) district meet on Jan. 16 in Irving and will be moving on to the state competition. Students competed in multiple competitions including advertising campaign and fashion merchandising promotion planning.
The 33 winners will compete in the DECA State Career Development Conference on February 20 in downtown Dallas. Winners at this event will advance to the international competition in Atlanta, Georgia.
“Anyone can benefit from leadership skills,” Marketing and DECA Kendra Day said. “There’s tons of different skills [that the students develop through competition].”
At every competition, students must speak present in front of a judge. Judges consist of professional business men and women who volunteer to participate in the competitions. This personal interaction helps the DECA students developed their presentation skills, which will help them become better communicators in their daily life.
“I’ve made a lot of friends through DECA,” Junior DECA member Anusha Hegde said. “It’s also opened up a lot of opportunities, and it’s made me realize what I like about marketing.”
Conventions include multiple different types of competitions to accommodate the various different types of marketing. Competitions can include a written essay, a research paper, or even a spoken presentation or role-play with a professional judge. Students must show their thorough knowledge on their subject and convey that to the judges.
The face to face communication between the student and the judge is unique to the DECA competitions. This type of interaction does not exist in many other academic competitions such as UIL, and it helps the students develop skills that will help them after high school.
DECA awards over $300,000 in scholarships to high school and college students. Internships are also sometimes awarded from DECA’s corporate associates to students who showcase their expansive knowledge.
Marcus has advanced to the State competition every year for the past 20 years. All but one of those years, they have also moved onto the international competition.
“I hope that we continue on the path that we’ve been on,” Day said. “ I hope that we continue to grow…so that it’s touching more people that have a group that they can be a part of and connect with.”
