This Tuesday, January 16, Emerson DECA students competed in their District competition where many students have advanced to participate in the State conference in Houston. Now, these students will be spending the next few weeks preparing for the State Career Development Conference.
DECA is an organization that hosts competitions for students interested in various aspects of business and entrepreneurship. These competitions prepare students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. The District competition was the first competition of the year for DECA members.
The next step is preparing for the State competition. DECA members all have different strategies for preparing for their respective competitions.
“I plan on practicing a lot of the tests that are online, in order to increase my accuracy while also doing mock roleplays with Ms. Lock,” Business Services and Marketing competitor Ashima Nair said.
Senior Amy Wang participates in a prepared event and therefore tackles her event a bit differently.
“Competing in a prepared event means that I have everything lined up ahead of time for my competitions going forward,” Wang said. “In order to improve what I have currently for my event, I want to make sure that I am able to express my points more clearly to my judge, come up with a few more creative and innovative solutions to what I have, and review my presentation more with Ms. Lock so she can give me feedback on it.”
For DECA members, these competitions offer a lot more opportunities than just gaining experience.
“I’m excited for State because I get to meet people who are also interested in the field of business and network,” Nair said.
DECA conferences this year are bittersweet for Emerson seniors and therefore they are hoping to make the most out of their last few competitions.
“Since it’s my senior year, I’m less worried about the academic aspect of it like I was when I first started competing but I’m more excited about making friends,” Wang said, “Last year when I went to State, I got to meet a lot of my friends who I haven’t seen in a couple of years.”
Emerson is a part of District 7 DECA which is the largest district in the state. The upcoming State and International Conferences will allow Emerson students to meet a variety of people interested in different facets of business.
“My favorite part of DECA is getting to know the perspectives of many new people,” Wang said. “The one time I can really recall is when I went to internationals last year and I was at a table with ten people from very different states. For all of us to be sitting in a convention center from Orlando, Florida and getting to talk to them about their stories in DECA and keeping in touch with them is really nice.”
While the next few weeks will be busy for DECA members preparing for the State Conference, it’s sure to be a rewarding and enriching experience for students interested in a future business career.
“I genuinely would not be where I am, not just in DECA but also in other aspects of my life, without the experiences that I had from competing and the help I’ve gotten from my friends, my fellow officers, Ms. Lock and DECA,” said Wang.
