This previous elongated weekend for John Adams high school DECA students was engaging and full of collaborative hard work. From Sunday March 25-28, DECA Participants that qualified for State went to the Indianapolis Marriott with the hopes of making it to ICDC, International Career Development Conference, or some may call it nationals.
Sunday was probably the longest day for DECA members. Schools all across Indiana participate in DECA State. There were schools from south of Indiana towards the border of Ohio, and all the way to northern Indiana towards the border of Michigan. Once participants reached the Marriott rooms were dispersed and test taking times were handed out. There were two test taking times for all different business events, 5:30-7:00 Adams DECA participants Andres, Lois, and myself were in the first test taking slot. From 7:15 to 8:45pm Adams DECA participants Rachel, Brandon, Charles, and Owen were the last section test takers. The test section is part of the overall score deciding if you make it to nationals or not. It’s where you have to put your knowledge to the test, and see if you can beat the scores of your opponents you are competing against! When testing was over the participants still remained in their business professional clothing, because it was time for the orientation from 9:45 till 10:00 pm. DECA’s theme this year was “campers” to show how the feel of DECA is a close net of newly-friended strangers going through events together for the next few days. The orientation consisted of DECA officers introducing themselves and giving a speech to prove their desired position.
Monday was the most important day, role play day. The role plays are how you can show your knowledge in a real life setting. Each DECA participant is given a problem in their specific industry and has to solve it, to be later presented to a judge. DECA members in Individual series have 10 minutes to come up with a solution to be presented to a judge. Group series have 15 minutes to come up with a solution, to also be presented to a judge. Think of role plays as Shark Tank, the only difference is the Judges do not ask questions until after you present your role play. Adams students Rachel Bells role play was about principles of business administration, Lois Carr in retail marketing, myself in food marketing, Andres Cervantes and Jguadalupe Cervera in Business management and administration and Owen Connelly and Brandon Davidson in entrepreneurship. After all Adams students finished their role plays they went out to dinner at P.F. Chang’s a Japanese restaurant that has authentic food to celebrate the students’ hard work. Once the stomachs were full it was time for group series awards. All Adams participants were in the Individual series and did not receive awards that night but still had a chance the next morning.
Tuesday, the final day was awards day for Adams. At 8:00 am Adams moved quickly and swiftly to be packed and dressed for awards. The awards ceremony started at 8:30 and lasted till 10:45. No one from Adams went on to nationals but Owen Connelly and myself did get to go up on stage to receive a competency award. In DECA, a Competency award is if you score a 85 or higher in a role play or test. Throughout the awards ceremony there were a lot of Carmel, Hamilton Southeastern, and Munster High School winners. While looking back, though it didn’t come to the turnout we’d hoped for, all Adams participants really enjoyed the experience of DECA and how it shows the career world of business!