What is DECA?

DECA is a business organization at our school which allows students to use the knowledge they have learned and apply it in a realistic setting or competition. With my experience in DECA, the club has helped me with my presentation skills and followed the steps to create an interesting and intriguing sales pitch.

Steps of DECA Competition

1.District Competition: This is the first level in competition, where you would compete against other nearby schools. For OOHS members, it was nearby schools in Columbus. At my competition, I only competed against four other groups and the top three moved onto the State Competition.

2. State Competition: This is the next competition level, where you would compete against your entire state. At my competition, I competed against ten-twelve people in my event for the first round. In the first round of states, each event is divided into four-five different heats, containing ten to twelve people in each heat. This is normally a two day competition where the first day is preliminary competition against those ten-twelve people in your heat. Then, if it is announced that you made it to the finals round of states, which means, you’ve placed in the top two-three spots of your heat, you will compete again for the second finals competition. In this competition, you compete against the top ten-twelve people in your entire competition. If announced again that you’ve are a part of the top three- five of your competition, you move onto the National Competition.

3. National Competition: Like the State competition, the structure of the competition is the same. There are two rounds with multiple people in the heats you have to compete against. The only thing different is, instead of competing against your state you are against close to 20 other states as well. For my current year, 2019, the national competition was held in Orlando, Florida.

Through my first year of DECA, I have learned so much. From the inner workings of the competition to my event itself, what a great experience! I was able to choose an event that I was interested in pursuing and get a taste to see what information and tasks I would be surrounded by. I can’t wait to use what I learned from this year to make my next year experience so much better!