Spotlight on Alexandria City High School’s DECA chapter
Abigail Ernst
Editor
DECA kicked off their 2021-2022 season this year. They are an organization that centers on students who are involved in marketing or finance to gain business and leadership skills while participating in competitions and conferences.
As an international organization, DECA has chapters within all 50 states and nine countries. There are two tiers of the DECA organization, high school, and collegiate. The ACHS DECA chapter is in the southern region.
President of the ACHS chapter, Lila Randall said, “Our school’s chapter has over 60 students in DECA compared to the world’s enrollment of over 175,000 members.”
To join this DECA chapter, a student must be in a marketing or entrepreneurship class that year and once students join the chapter, they have to pay a $30 fee.
Students can compete in three different levels of competition: districts, states, and nationals. To move onto the next level of competition, students must qualify for it in their specific category. Students can compete in categories such as hospitality and tourism, business management and administration, marketing, and finance. They choose their desired competition category.
A majority of people compete in the competitions role plays, where a student is presented with a business scenario and has to answer questions about how to solve certain problems. A certified judge within the organization judges the student’s presentation, but this makes up only some of the student’s official score. The other part of the competition is a 100 question multiple-choice exam based on a student’s category. A final score is composed of both the presentation and exam portions.
Junior Ani Dawson who competes in the hospitality and tourism scenarios said, “I like being able to apply the skills I have learned in my business class in a fun and exciting way.”
The state competition for DECA is March 3 through the 6. The state competition is held in Virginia Beach. The competition has about 7,000 students in total, compared to the 100 students that competed at districts.
Senior Alex Hicks said, “My favorite part about DECA is being able to get a professional experience around my friends and learning more about business.”
The chapter does weekly practices for all members of the organization, which practice role-play scenarios, interviewing, test questions, judging, etc.
Randall said, “DECA can help students become successful by offering preparation and competitions for key business skills such as public speaking, critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. This opportunity gives students the skills needed for job interviews, college applications, and more.”
