The students of DECA got DECAorated with many awards due to their success at the Virginia State DECA competition on Saturday, March 3rd.
Thirty-seven WS students went to the competition that was held at the Virginia Beach Convention Center. DECA is an association of high school students that focus on marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business and marketing. Eleven of the 37 students advanced to nationals and will represent our school and the state of Virginia in Atlanta, Georgia later this month.
Students from all over the state gathered to present their projects and roleplays to a board of judges and to display their talents in marking. Before they compete, students are expected to prepare a presentation based on a marketing situation that they were given. They have to present a business plan and explain how it would all work. Besides the competition, the weekend was full of new experiences and a chance for teens to make new friends.
Junior Kareese Akinloba won first place overall and was in the top ten for both of her Sports and Entertainment Marketing roleplays. Kareese is also the DECA president for the WS marketing department and is highly respected for her skills. She worked as an individual and not as a group which most DECA students agreed is more difficult.
“I think a lot of people expected me to [win], but I was still really nervous that I wouldn’t perform well, but it was really exciting especially when I looked down and saw my whole school there cheering me on,” said Akinloba.
While students like Akinloba performed by themselves, others decided to participate in a group. Some of the groups were also very successful.
Juniors Thomas Ballou and Jack Russell placed in the top ten for their roleplay on Sports and Entertainment Marketing Team Decision Making. They believe their teamwork helped them to advance to nationals.
“I think participating in a team event is a lot better than participating in an individual event for DECA because you kind of get a sense of reassurance when you’re with someone else, and it gives you more confidence with your event,” said Russell.
Some of the most important aspects of these students success are the DECA business terms and the KPI that each roleplay has to cover.
“KPI is Key Performance Indicator, which are the five things you need to touch on and discuss with your judge during your roleplay,” said junior Logan Parker.
Senior Ford Phillips is another state finalist in the Advertising Campaign category. He presented to a judge about his creative idea for “Pepsi Footwear”, or if Pepsi made shoes.
“The whole experience was really fun, and I would really recommend it to people, especially if you are looking into going into business or finance or something like that then it’s a good experience to have under your belt,” said Phillips.