Amidst the large crowd of students from all over the county, one could see students who have no sense of direction tensely running around the Ramapo College campus in the cold morning air, searching for where they should be going. At the same time, the students were also getting cold feet because they were about to present in front of a judge at the anticipated DECA event.
Members of Tenafly High School’s chapter of Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) —which, according to its website, is a national organization that prepares students in high schools and colleges from all over the world to become leaders and entrepreneurs for professions in different fields of business such as “marketing, finance, hospitality, and management”—convened with students from other area schools at the Ramapo College of New Jersey on January 11th. On this trip, they spoke in front of judges and presented to them their topics.
According to deca.org, this national organization, which contains over 224,000 members in all U.S. states, was established at the Peabody Hotel at the first Interstate Conference of Distributive Education in April of 1947. “At that meeting, delegates from twelve states unanimously adopted a resolution to form a national organization.”
Once it was a member’s time to start presenting, according to their scheduled time, they went into a small room with about fifteen other students so that they could read what their performance indicators were. According to decadirect.org, “performance indicators are specific knowledge and skills that students are expected to address and perform through competition.” After the students read what their performance indicators were, they then presented them to the judge. Depending on what subject the student chose, a certain amount of time was set aside for reading their subject and writing notes down before presenting them to the judges.
Many students in Tenafly High School found DECA to be a very interesting and fun experience. “Last year was really fun because it was my first time, so I didn’t know what to expect,” Amanda Fukui (’25), two-year DECA member of Tenafly High School, said. “Regionals is fun, but states is definitely more fun because you get to go to a hotel with your friends and you learn a lot from the experience. It was really cool to see everybody in professional attire and [to] talk to the judges. It was a great experience.”
At DECA, students also learn business-related skills to prepare them for future careers. “I think that both the DECA trips were very eventful. I learned a lot from both of them, and they taught me a lot of great skills in life that I could use in the future,” Sienna Mendez (‘25) said.
After the event at Ramapo College, the students found out whether or not they made it to the States competition or not. The students that have made it get to go on an overnight trip, staying at a hotel. The students who did not make it to the DECA States do have an opportunity to attend the States by writing a ten-page essay.
As DECA teaches and helps students with “demonstrating problem solving abilities, comminucation skills and leadership potential,” according to decadirect.org, it also prepares students for real-life business situations.
