On Tuesday, January 24, Wakeland DECA continued their yearly dominance at the district competition with nearly 70% of competitors advancing to state.

“I’m always psyched…to see the success of DECA because it’s teaching something that is real-world experience,” DECA advisor Mr. Drenowatz said.

Not only was this year successful but it also included all 14 of the officers advancing for the first time.  

“We always have somebody that drops the ball or somebody that gets beat by somebody that’s good.  And all of them advanced, so then they got a bunch of joy,” Drenowatz said.  

An immense amount of preparation went into DECA’s great performance at the district competition.  Starting in August, competitors developed business/finance plans to either present in a Shark Tank or role-play format.  As they improved their projects, officers held meetings and workshops on finances, entrepreneurship, and other business-related topics.  

“Personally, as the financial officer, I held a workshop with event specific papers that walked competitors through their finances, looked over 49 papers to check all finances, met individually with 10 groups, and commented on around 25 papers,” junior officer Samantha Stein said.  

“In my role as an officer, I help lead the entrepreneurship events.  This involves suggesting revisions for business plans, providing feedback as members rehearse, and explaining what to expect at the competition.  I also lead informational meetings for competitors and work with the rest of our officer team to plan events,” senior officer Rajas Ketkar said.

All of the officers’ extra work impacted the students greatly and did not go unnoticed.  

“The officers were a ton of help.  Even the officers that weren’t for your specific event were super helpful and were always willing to give you a hand if you needed it,” junior Samantha Buckley said.

On March 9-11, Wakeland DECA will attempt to continue their dominance at the state competition at the Hilton Anatole hotel in Dallas.  

“In the past two years, state was conducted virtually, so I know my team and I are super excited to actually attend the conference in-person this year in Dallas.  So, I’m super excited to see a bunch of people I met from ICDC last year,” Stein said.

By joining DECA, students are able to create friendships with students outside of Wakeland and develop skills in an area of interest.

“There are so many people I’ve [met] through DECA.  At Internationals, I’ve met people from Spain, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, so many other states, and even people in our District that I had not known—all because we wanted to join this organization,” Stein said.