After participating in the State Career Development Conference (SCDC) at the Hershey Lodge (Feb. 18-20), LCDS’s largest club, DECA, will send three of their students to the international level competition in Atlanta, Georgia on April 25-28. Club leadership talked about their successes this year and plans for the future.
DECA stands for the Distributive Education Clubs of America, or as LCDS Chapter President Jack B. refers to it, “business club on steroids.” It is an opportunity for high school students to prepare for a career in various fields through four different sectors: Marketing, Business Management/Administration, Hospitality/Tourism, and Finance. Students compete against each other in various roleplay or presentation scenarios.
There are three levels of competition: Districts, State Career Development Conference (SCDC), and International Career Development Conference (ICDC), each level more competitive and challenging than the previous.
Jack explained that attending these conferences allows students to surround themselves with people of a high caliber that are all interested in similar things. The conferences also give students the opportunity to simulate real life situations and practice important skills they could face in their future careers.
“Being able to do that not only prepares you for the business world, but also develops your 21st Century Skills,” said Jack. “You’re being judged via merit on how well you are able to get up in front of a judge and present your ability to think on your feet and showcase your knowledge about a topic.”
This year in competition, LCDS DECA sent 15 students to the District level competition. Senior Austin Z. was the only LCDS qualifier for States. 14 students participated in SCDC, 13 of them competing in states-only events.
From that group, Senior Avay B. and Juniors Jack B. and Luca M. qualified in their respective events for the upcoming ICDC. Jack and Luca placed 5th in the state as a team for Finance Operations Research (FOR), which involved presenting and reporting on over 5 months of research on Fulton Bank’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) through employee interviews, customer feedback surveys, talks with executives, and secondary research. Avay qualified with the Stock Market Game (SMG), which involved placing in the top 25 in the North Atlantic region for highest returns in a simulated stock market portfolio.
Junior Jason L. won 2 awards for having the best 2 roleplay scores in the LCDS chapter, and ultimately placed 5th in his States-only event. Junior Owen G. won an award for having the best test score in the LCDS chapter.
DECA Vice President of Career Development Jason L. spoke to LCDS’s results in competition this year, saying “We did quite well for a new chapter in our second year of competition. I’m very proud to see that we’ve sent teams both years to ICDC in Orlando and now Atlanta.” As for the future, he notes that “the competition within the state and nationally is getting more fierce, so I feel like our students should prepare more and work on their respective events and put more effort into their preparation for next year, where hopefully we will see more results.”
Outside of competition, LCDS DECA tries to keep busy and holds ambitious plans for the future. Jack noted the nearly doubled membership in the past year as a measure of the success DECA is having in the school community. This year, they have split into both Day 2 and Day 8 club periods.
Apart from competing, Jack explained to The Fourth Estate, “not only are we focused on preparing younger members for competition in the business world, but we also focus on a local network by bringing public speakers in, having lunch meetings, and doing various lesson plans to educate our members to be knowledgeable about business and finance.”
Moving forward, Jack hopes to extend the club’s reach towards community service opportunities provided through DECA by utilizing learned business knowledge to raise money for important causes. They also hope to bring in more public speakers, potentially hosting an alumni panel by the end of the year. He also mentioned a potential collaboration with peer club, Women in Business.
Jack is adamant that DECA club is “setting up the future business leaders of the world at LCDS right now and making sure that they are adequately prepared for their future.” He is hopeful that “when members go off and become successful businesspeople, they can look back and thank LCDS DECA for getting them started and giving them the opportunity to succeed.”
