On the morning of January 13, over 190 students piled into the THS cafeteria, murmuring with unconcealed excitement. The warmth in the air and bright lights served as a stark contrast to the cold blast outside the school doors. Yellow school buses were parked on the curb outside of the cafeteria, their plumes of exhaust saturating the crisp winter air. Once everyone was seated and roll call was completed, the students began their 30-minute journey to Ramapo College, where a sea of over 2,000 students were all striving to make it to the next level with only a quarter of slots available. Welcome to DECA.
Distributive Education Clubs of America, also known as DECA, focuses its events on the business world of marketing, finance, hospitality, and management for high schoolers, including sections of entrepreneurship. It consists of a variety of multiple choice and written exams, role-plays, and presentations where students are scored to achieve awards and continue to compete in conferences until the DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC), which will take place this year at Orlando, Florida. More than “293,000 DECA student members, teacher advisors, alumni, and professionals around the globe join DECA each year,” according to the DECA Official Website.
As one of the largest clubs in Tenafly High School, DECA is a source of pride for many students.
“Through DECA, I have sharpened my public speaking skills by gaining practice in presenting my ideas,” Grace Chan (’25), the president of the THS DECA Club, said. The club is known for strengthening students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills as they analyze real-word business scenarios and craft solutions.
Likewise, numerous DECA participants voiced their satisfaction with this year’s conference.
“First-year competitors are obligated to compete in one of the four principal categories: entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, and business management and administration,” Sabina Cowen (’27), a second-year DECA competitor, said. “As an inexperienced freshman at the 2023 regionals, I probably didn’t do very well. This year, competing in PFL (Personal Financial Literacy), a subject I am more passionate about, combined with experience from last year, I found myself really enjoying DECA.”
This underlying sentiment of enthusiasm proved to be a widespread agreement among participants of DECA.
“DECA is always an event worth looking forward to,” Mia Bareket (’27) said. Although preparing for the role-play may not be the most interesting step in the process, seeing your effort come to life when it’s time to present is very rewarding.”
This year, 96 Tenafly students are headed to states, which will take place from March 3 to March 6 in Atlantic City. As DECA students continue to practice and hone their skills with anticipation, many are excited to move forward to the upcoming New Jersey state conference.
