State High DECA competed in the DECA States Conference held in Hershey from Feb. 17-20. State High students competed in various competitions with over 80 different schools throughout the state of Pennsylvania.
What is DECA?
DECA was founded in 1946 as the “Distributive Education Clubs of America” to further high school education in the fields of marketing and merchandising. The organization now has over 315,000 high school members across more than 4,400 chapters worldwide. Students in DECA choose from a category to compete in from five different topics: Business Management/Administration, Marketing, Finance, Hospitality/Tourism and Entrepreneurship. During these competitions, students utilize role-play, presentations and campaigns to simulate scenarios in the business world. A group of judges evaluates their work, and the score students receive determines if they qualify to move on to higher competition. Additionally, each competition requires a written exam, which factors into the overall score.
Experience At States
Of the 101 State High students who went to states, 26 qualified to move on to the DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in April.
“It’s kind of an out-of-body experience,” Caleb Hatfield, the president of State High’s Deca Chapter, said. “[You put in] a lot of hard work, a lot of time spent studying, studying for tests, doing practice speaking, and all sorts of those things. And when you go on stage, you get to shake hands with the state officers, talk to some of them, and then receive your trophy, it’s a really cool experience.”
State High DECA additionally won the Golden Heart Award, a selective award that is only given to the chapter that raised the most money for charity in the state.
“It might have been [one] of the best experiences of my life,” sophomore Nate Babinski said, who, alongside his partner Marshall Shaner, qualified for Entrepreneurship Team Decision Making for ICDC.
“We really just squeaked in there,” Shaner added, “We got a six out of six on our written exam, didn’t expect that…It was really a pleasant surprise.”
Preparation for the Future
While DECA competition takes center stage, it also prepares members for future careers across multiple fields and equips them with life skills that will help them succeed after graduation.
“I think being creative, going out of the box, learning how to stand out to people is something I’ve definitely learned through DECA,” Hatfield said.
“I think DECA’s prepared for our future quite well, we’ve made a lot of connections,” Shaner said, “Its helped us start our own LinkedIn, our own social media account, DECA Dawgs, that’s going to help us expand our territory and expand our reach onto others.”
State High’s DECA team will represent State College at ICDC in Atlanta, Georgia, from April 24-29.
