The Virginia DECA State Leadership Conference (SLC) was held in Virginia Beach from Friday, Feb. 28 to Sunday, March 2. Students arrived on Friday to attend the opening ceremonies that focused on welcoming and motivating the DECA members, but the actual competition was on Saturday. On Sunday morning, students attended the award ceremony to find out who made it to the prestigious International Career Development Conference (ICDC). By the end of the proceedings, 12 members earned the honor of advancing to the highly competitive event.
Multiple students ended up bringing home awards: Senior Rayna Ballard and juniors Pavithra Kaleekkal, Lucas Rivadeneira, Tyler Verity, and Ava Johnson were all finalists, qualifying to move on to ICDC. Additionally, juniors Caroline Lowry, Bo Zehmer, and Mary Caroline Powell received mini-awards. However, senior Steven Dong and junior Win Van Epp won the elusive top prize, the DECA glass. Since they placed first, they get to bring home the biggest state prize. Van Epp and Dong chose to do the written project, and decided to create a presentation about the use of AI in construction businesses. The pair’s detailed research and elaborate presentation impressed the judges, earning them first place in their event and a spot at ICDC.
“We researched a business called Eagle Construction, […] and we learned about some of the processes that go into acquiring the land that they build the houses on and the process of building the houses themselves, including some of the regulatory aspects. […] AI is very underutilized there, and there are a number of key areas where they begin to use it. For example, the management and communication of data,” Van Epp said.
When competing, members participate in roleplay, where they solve a business scenario in 10 to 30 minutes and present their ideas to a judge, or written events, where they submit a business plan, research paper, or marketing strategy prepared beforehand. Some events also require a 100 question multiple-choice exam to test business knowledge. Judges evaluate entries based on creativity, communication, and understanding of business concepts, with top performers advancing from school competition up to international levels through rigorous preparation and practice.
Although thousands of students attended the state competition, only the top eight presenters from each roleplay event and top seven presenters from each written event are allowed to move on to the national competitions. The DECA glass award is given to the top three teams or individuals, in addition to a medal. The rest of the qualifiers are only given a medal.
“I remember when they called our name for first place, I got really hype. We didn’t really have time to celebrate, as we had to get out of the convention center fast since there were a lot of people… but we celebrated a bit with our friends and advisors and it was really sweet,” Dong said.
Juniors Anisha Nawar and Christina Guidice (ninth place) have also been allowed the opportunity to go to ICDC due to a finalist in their event dropping out and freeing up a spot. Senior Himangi Nepal and juniors Biruk Sisay and Natalia Bajaj will be in attendance at ICDC too for a leadership workshop.
DECA, an organization focused on helping students develop leadership and business skills that will aid them in college and their careers, is something that many students at our school are involved with. DECA encourages students to build their teamwork and problem-solving skills through different activities, like various competitions, in-depth projects, and dynamic workshops. The lessons learned in DECA are impactful because the range of skills that students acquire are directly applicable to both academic tasks and real-world situations.
“One lesson that was reinforced while participating is that everybody has their own style of performing, so if you just find one you are comfortable with and understand, you’ll be fine. For me, I’m a visual person so I make drawings and such, but other people like to use data and graphs. Both are effective when you know how to communicate,” Ballard said.
To participate in DECA, you must first be in either a marketing class (Marketing I and II, Fashion Marketing I and II, or Sports Marketing I and II), or a business class (Intro to Business and Marketing), headed by marketing teacher and DECA co-sponsor Jaqueline Herrmann and sports marketing teacher and DECA co-sponsor Sarah Voyack.
