Battle DECA members went to the DECA state competition held at the Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 3 through 5. Doing well in the state competition can qualify participants for the national competition and blaze a better path forward for the participants’ future careers. Even if they don’t qualify for nationals, being a part of the state competition can still be a valuable learning experience for the future. Tensions are high and participants were trying their best to place in state and go to the national competition held in Anaheim, California.
Junior Breleigh Moore is one of the state participants from Battle. They participated in the retail merchandising event. “DECA is a good experience that’s fun and educational, it’s related to the career I’m interested in, I get to travel for it, and I get bonus points in my marketing class for participating,” said Moore. Moore placed third in their event qualifying them for the national competition in April.
Junior Grant Hughes, another participant in state, was in the Sports Marketing event. Hughes said, “I joined DECA because it’s a good way for me to gain experience in the marketing field as that is what I may want to go into for college.”
State qualifier and seniors Alexander Fernandez and Alijah Jackman participated in Entrepreneurship Team Decision Making. “I chose to do DECA my sophomore year after being inspired by my marketing teacher Mrs. Lenz. Me and my partner Alijah Jackman thought it would be a great thing to try. We wanted to push each other and get out of our comfort zones. I think I speak for both of us when I say it has helped shape us to become the people we are today.” said Fernandez, “We fell short of nationals after making state our sophomore year. This year with the help of Ms. Kelley we decided to try it again and give it one last shot. This year we placed at state and qualified to compete at nationals. It was a heartfelt moment for the both of us that we will never forget.”
The National competition will be held April 27-30, in Anaheim, California. Battle has four people attending the competition, Breligh Moore, Alexander Fernandez, Alijah Jackman, and Aiden Butler.
DECA’s competitive events can be grouped into three broad categories: role-plays and case studies, prepared events, and online simulations. Within each category and type of event, DECA offers a variety of options in each of four career clusters: marketing, finance, entrepreneurship, personal financial literacy, hospitality, and management.
DECA’s role-play and case study events involve a multiple-choice career cluster exam and a role-play or case study activity provided on-site with a judge. The prepared events include a written project as well as a prepared presentation, and some require participants to take a career cluster exam. All of these events should be started early in the school year because of the preparation involved. They are classified by industry and career clusters according to DECA’s website.
