After competing at the annual New York State DECA competition, four students from the THHS DECA chapter have advanced to the International Career Development Conference (ICDC), which will take place next week in Atlanta, Georgia.
According to DECA Advisor and social studies teacher Joshua Krinsky, the chapter first distinguished itself last December at New York City regionals as “the winningest,” team at the regional level, with 35 students qualifying to compete in states.
DECA competitions evaluate students based on certain performance indicators such as elaboration, communication, application of business concepts, and overall performance. Students are assessed using these indicators in two main event types which are present across all 60 competition categories: prepared and role-plays.
Prepared events consist of both a written paper and presentation which students present on the day of the competition on a specific topic. However, role play events are based on a case study that focuses on a business-related problem which must be done on the spot. In addition to this, all competitors must also complete a category-specific exam which is considered into their score.
“17 of our 35 students [who competed at states] received medals for being top 10 in their category. So many students being so close to advancing shows how hard they worked and how talented they are,” Mr. Krinsky said
Sophomore Julian Mateo, who placed 7th in the role play Principles of Marketing event, said that the key to making it to ICDC was “creativity.” He said, “During a roleplay mentorship session with a DECA officer, they provided an example that really highlighted the extent of creativity that must be shown to progress to the next level which I successfully applied in my roleplay and thus secured my spot to ICDC.”
Junior Kaya Leabo who also qualified for ICDC and placed 7th in the hospitality and tourism team- decision making category at states described her preparation for role play events. “My partner and I needed to schedule time where we could meet up and practice doing role plays together,” she said. “We found old role plays online from the DECA+ website that we did on our own. For test prep, I also used DECA+ and went through tests from previous competitions. I did these tests and looked for vocabulary I was unfamiliar with, and then studied it.”
Junior Celeste Bagga, who worked with Kaya in the hospitality and tourism team- decision making category, said that the biggest challenge was balancing commitments leading up to states. However, she said, “the week before the competition, I put a pause on my other commitments and just focused on DECA because I knew I would have regretted it if I didn’t prepare as much as I could have.”
Preparation for the season began as early as the beginning of December. During weekly DECA meetings, students participated in role-plays, mock exams, and practice presentations before the executive board. Outside of school, preparation consisted of studying for competition tests and practicing role plays on official prep sites such as DECA +.
Freshman Sabrina Lin, a competitor in the principles of marketing category, described organizing study sessions with her peers. “We studied together in the library for countless hours, and practiced our role plays and public speaking during the DECA meetings,” she said.
“I think a lot of our underclassmen learned the structure of the role-play very quickly and we were able to score very high during regionals,” said DECA vice president of membership and junior Krish Wadia.
Despite strong performances in role-plays, members that spoke to The Classic noted that test scores hold room for improvement. Mr. Krinsky said that while many students performed well, test scores were generally lower than presentation scores.
“We are competing against high schools in Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester County who have business departments and offer several different business electives,” said Mr. Krinsky. “Although our school has been growing in this regard, we still only offer a couple of business classes, and many of our DECA students have not taken the ones we do offer.
DECA fundraising coordinator and junior Namrin Zaman said, “Every year, students tend to focus more on role plays and not enough on the test, and that score can significantly impact their overall performance.”
Competitors noted that DECA has taught them about public speaking and key business topics.
Kaya said, “from these competitions I was able to gain a far greater grasp of how employees operate in companies. I also understand significantly more business terms than I did prior to joining DECA.”
“One of the biggest lessons I learned is that practice truly makes perfect. And even if you mess up, whether it’s a roleplay or a prepared event, you can always ‘fake it till you make it,’” said sophomore Sukhman Kaur, who placed 6th in the prepared Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling Event.
As the team prepares for ICDC, members say their focus extends beyond competition results. “Our chapter’s main goal in DECA is to have fun and take full advantage of the experience–making connections, learning what we can improve on, and growing,” said Namrin.
