At State High, DECA is a club that has frequently provided students with unique opportunities to make meaningful connections with classmates, meet professionals in the business world, and explore potential careers. Recently, DECA students had the opportunity to attend the Universal Studios Sports & Entertainment Marketing Conference in Orlando, Florida.
11 students came on the trip, which included a four-day park-to-park ticket for access to Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, Epic Universe, and Volcano Bay, along with conference programming. At the conference, marketing executives at Universal Orlando, along with other Florida executives, showed DECA members the behind-the-scenes production in the theme park world and at other sports and entertainment companies.
Spending their final week of January in weather over 50 degrees warmer than their classmates, not to mention at one of the largest resorts in the country, participants probably had the best week out of all State High students.
Junior Marcus Auvillain explained his motivation for attending the conference.
“I wanted to learn more about sports and entertainment marketing in an international setting, so that kind of drew me in, you know, then the theme parks also provided a great incentive to go there and have fun,” Auvillain said.
But this great experience had to come with a cost. Each student was required to pay $1150, which included flights, lodging, transportation, and admission to all parks and events. Though this is no small sum of money, many attendees of the conference found it was 100% worth it.
Junior Nathan Simpson, Auvillain’s DECA event partner, detailed the conference.
“There were two conference days with four speakers each day, so we had two speakers, an intermission, then another two speakers,” Simpson said. “The speakers talked about experiences that they had from their job, and really how it incorporated sports or entertainment marketing.”
Not only did the DECA students learn valuable information from the lectures, but they also got to interact with the speakers and students with similar interests from across the nation.
“Throughout the conference, we really widened our social networks,” Simpson said. “When each speaker was done, we could volunteer to ask questions to the speaker…and we met people from all over the country.”
Along with the conference’s obvious academic value, the endless activities at Universal provided students with hours of memory-making. Trip-goers stayed four nights at the park, enjoying roller coasters, restaurants, shops, and more on the 1,290-acre complex.
The students also got a taste of the VIP lifestyle; they had early and late access to the parks and line-cutting privileges, enhancing their experience.
Auvillain and Simpson both mentioned that they learned a lot at the conference, but Auvillain had a key takeaway.
“Really anyone can be an entrepreneur,” Auvillain said. “Anyone can go out there, create their own business, and market it. It is up to you to take action and carry out your ideas.”
The two emphasized the importance of the group they went to the conference with. “They made it so much more memorable,” Simpson said.
Auvillain made a strong statement. “This is the single best field trip that you can go on for any club at State High,” he said.
With the educational opportunities, valuable connections, and exciting experiences, it is no wonder why particpants speak so highly of the trip. To any students hesitant to take the long trip to Florida, Auvillain, Simpson, and other past attendees would say there is no reason to hesitate.
