Northern students compete at the state level with DECA Story By jackson barnard, bryana quick, ella morofsky, abby hosler, kayla malaski, avery bogemann, kayla miller, mitchell barnard, jenna abdulhak, kennedy beck, ashton hall, trevor andereson, chase vanderwalle, mariah mccollough, and ashton hall; graphic by Annabelle Bartz, Photos Courtesy of Jeanine Patterson and Arya Sappidi

DECA ‒The Distributive Education Clubs of America ‒ is a 501 nonprofit career and technical student organization with over 170,000 members across all 50 U.S. states and several foreign countries. To participate in DECA, you must be in any business-oriented class (marketing, intro to business, etc.), with only a few exceptions being allowed. Participants can compete in either an individual event or a team event. After weeks of class time to look at sample role plays, study business terms, and get last-minute insight, the club travels to the Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University to compete in the district conference.

Following the district conference, any qualifying member takes a three-day trip to Detroit to compete in the state conference, providing many fun and educational experiences for the students to widen their marketing skills. The process to get qualified is similar to sports. "You have to be the best in your category, at districts you have to be in the top 6, and so the process is that you are better than your competitors," said Jeanine Patterson, the school's DECA advisor who also teaches business and marketing. Many students qualified for states across an array of different events that they participated in.

State-qualifying seniors Abby Pelak and Aaliya Motiwala collaborated in the Financial Services team decision-making event. Their favorite part of the trip was the atmosphere of Detroit. "Just walking around Detroit, going out to eat, having our own free time. That was a really fun experience," they both shared.

Sophomore Lizzy Rzepka, who participated in Principles of Finance, also qualified for the state event. The state conference gave her a new perspective on marketing. "It really helped me to think on my feet when it comes to situations because it's timed and you don't get what you're going to talk about until a few minutes before," she said. Like her peers, Rzepka enjoyed the trip's educational part, exploring Detroit and trying new foods in the local area.

Besides competitions, DECA is a place for social interactions, with a friendly atmosphere. It presents an excellent opportunity to meet new people. "I would absolutely recommend DECA even if business/marketing isn't entirely your thing. You meet lots of new people and you learn a lot. Overall a great experience," voiced sophomore Angel Hernandez.

If students can outperform their competitors at the state event, they can compete in the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Orlando, Florida, on April 22, 2023. Seniors Logan Post, Arya Sappidi, Humza Thaj, Turab Alam, and sophomores Gideon Post and Riley Patterson all qualified for ICDC this year.

The selected DECA students each have their way of preparing for this event. "I've been practicing a lot…," said G. Post. However, contrary to G. Post's approach, Sappidi mentioned, “I'm not really preparing. I didn't even prepare for states. But right now, I'm going over business terms."

Overall, DECA has taught students interested in marketing and business critical elements of those fields. With traveling usually being a significant business component, the long-distance feature of DECA adds to its realisticness. These students worked diligently to get to where they were, and in the end, Patterson outlined how important it is "To love a process and not specifically an outcome."

Appreciate