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DECA Districts Are Coming Soon

DECA+Districts+Are+Coming+Soon

By Jeri Treas, Publicity/Groups Editor Excalibur Yearbook

On Feb. 3rd, DECA will be going to the St. Louis Outlet Mall, formerly known as The Mills, for their annual Districts competition. They compete with schools from District 6 in business related categories such as Marketing Communications, Principles of Marketing, Entrepreneur Innovation Plan, and Leadership Delegates. That is just a few out of many.

“I’m most excited about the possibility to move on to state because it opens the possibility of moving to ICDC, International Career Development Conference,” Junior Officer Nicolas Savala said. “It is the international competition.” 

At the competition, the top six from each category and the top two from principles events move onto state. Students have been practicing for weeks and even months to prepare. They have to take a test before they compete to make sure they are eligible before they move on.

“My partner Bree and I have been focusing on our category for the past week or so in our marketing class, so I think we have our strengths down, and now it’s a matter of improving our weaknesses,” junior Sami Weyhrich said.

With all the preparation, many of the competitors are very confident with their presentations. The competition includes tests, written portions, and role playing of a topic the competitors are given.

“It is very time consuming,” junior Kevin Welch said. “The Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan took me 3 months from start to finish, and my Leadership Essay took me about a week. I feel prepared for competition because I’ve worked very hard to critique these written events to make sure that I will succeed in the long run.”

Students are really looking forward to Districts because it can help them get a foot in the door of the marketing/business world to get the experience they need.

“I feel that DECA will overall prepare me for my future because I have learned a lot of life, ethical, and leadership skills that will benefit my career path,” Welch said.