From February 21st-23rd, many of our LHS students attended the State Leadership Conference for Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA).
DECA is a club focused on developing leadership and entrepreneurial skills in High School students. 22 students exemplified those qualities when they moved on to finals in their respective events, with seven finishing in the top 10% who will be headed to the International Conference in Orlando.
These seven finalists are senior Catherine May, senior Zach Long, junior Elizabeth Batenburg, senior Catherine Dutmer, senior Ashlyn Farnham, senior Luke DuMoulin, and sophomore Andrew Desjardins.
Some of the finalists weighed in to talk about the event.
What was it like to attend the event?
“There were just under 200 people in my event, and there are parts of the competition where you’re sitting directly next to the people you’re competing against,” says Batenburg who competes in the Individual Roleplay Event for Apparel and Accessories Marketing event.
“There’s a certain kind of adrenaline when you go into competition,” Adams weighs in.
Batenburg still thinks of it fondly. “That being said, you meet a ton of really interesting people during your four days at competition, and it’s a phenomenal way to make new friends.”
Feature: Kylah Adams
Kylah Adams, senior, won a $1000 scholarship for her participation in DECA. She competes in the Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research event alongside seniors McKenzie Pullar and Ashlyn Farnham.
DECA is the only activity that I have been involved in for all four years of high school, and it’s also the one that means the most to me. Currently I serve as the Vice President of the club, and it honestly just means doing a little bit of everything. I’ve done a variety of written and roleplay events throughout each year, ranging from marketing campaigns to creating a bakery.
DECA has taught me a lot about leadership, but also about learning to come out of my shell (and I’ve learned a lot about marketing too!).
The scholarship I received is called the Colorado Memorial scholarship, which Colorado DECA gives out to one student each year. Generally the student has established themselves within the organization through their involvement with the program, but they also display financial need.
The scholarship itself is worth $1000, which will help me a lot. It’s all going to help me get to college! I’m still between schools, but whatever I do with it will go towards helping me with tuition, room, and other fees.
It feels absolutely amazing that I won. I didn’t show it initially, but once I got home from state I cried happy tears for at least an hour.
The entire club was so supportive of me and I feel so lucky to have the relationships that I do with all of the members.
Kylah Adams
Why DECA?
Participating in that event has really expanded my skillset when it comes to real-world presentations and my improv skills. DECA demands a lot of thinking of your feet, and you learn how to come up with creative solutions pretty quickly. Aside from presentations, I’ve learned how to talk about everything from budget cuts to company mergers to marketing campaigns- you never know what prompt you’ll get for a given roleplay, so it’s always a fun gamble.
Elizabeth Batenburg
If you are interested in joining DECA in the future, contact the sponsor Ms. France.
