In just its first year, the Distributive Clubs of America (DECA) sent 12 students to the State Career Development Conference, which will take place March 6-8. There are 52 active members of DECA currently. DECA, a popular club in many schools, was started by senior president Anjani Rama with advisor and business/CTE teacher Darlene Wall.
“I started DECA because of my passion for business and leadership,” Rama said. “I wanted to create opportunities for students who all shared the same interests in their future careers such as marketing, finance, hospitality and management.”
DECA is an organization that prepares student leaders interested in the previously mentioned four business career clusters.
“I felt this would be a good opportunity for students to advance their leadership skills and gain real world experiences,” Wall said. “The biggest challenge we have had since we are a new chapter is learning as you go in meeting campaign challenges and fundraising goals. I have learned that in order to be successful, you take one day and one event at a time and plan accordingly.”
The DECA officers this year, besides Rama, are junior general vice president Krish Bharwani, junior head of organizations Jacob Sullivan, junior vice president of leadership Reyhan Patel, junior vice president of outreach Macy Brown, junior vice president of career development Addison Bellon, junior vice president of service Alexia Tuihalangingie, junior vice president of finance Preston Taylor, senior vice president of marketing Cameryn Block, senior vice president of hospitality Briannah Block, junior vice president of membership Madison Smucker, junior vice president of technology Jayden Zamani, junior historian Finley Joseph, junior secretary Ella Ivory and junior treasurer Jake Dahlin. Bharwani also co-founded the club.
“Being so new to the club, we were unprepared,” Bharwani said. “Obviously we had tried to study, but we weren’t familiar with how the events were formatted or how we would be judged. But now we are, and we’re going to use what we learned at the meet to more effectively prepare for the next level.”
Out of DECA’s 52 members, 29 students attended and competed at the DECA Regional Conference.
“We are super excited to advance to state and are ready for the next challenge as a chapter,” Wall said. “As a new chapter this year, receiving this award was a great accomplishment to the president, officers and chapter members. This would not have been possible without a team effort.”
The 12 students that advanced to the state conference were Ivory, Bellon, senior Taege Ellsworth, Bharwani, Sullivan, senior Natalee Nehls, Rama, Dahlin, Patel, senior Ramon Zalce and senior Alissa Mcdonald.
“My experience at the DECA regional conference was incredible,” Rama said. “It felt rewarding to qualify for state, especially because this was our first year as a chapter. Being able to advance to state also showed me and my teammates that hard work and commitment really does pay off.”
