From the mountains of Hardy County to the palms of Orlando, Florida, a group of Moorefield High School students traveled to learn, make new friends, and pick up vital life and professional skills.
And along the way, they earned awards as well.
The students came from the school’s DECA club, or Distributive Education Clubs of America. This student organization, as its website describes, “prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.”
Two of these were sophomore Kate Combs and senior Jeshua Mazariego.
Combs explained that DECA “is a business club” that helps members to “get skills that will help us in the real world. She shared that the goal lay in sowing the next generation’s crop of business leaders.
“And entrepreneurs!” Mazariego added.
At the state conference, 17 students attended and 17 earned medals. Thirteen earned a trip to international level competition.
Every spring in late April, as the school year comes to a close, DECA holds its International Career Development Conference. They joined over 25,000 students, teacher-advisors, business professionals, and alumni. Students can compete in a broad selection of competitive events that test skills and knowledge related to business and entrepreneurship.
Combs explains that part of the draw of DECA lies in its difference from traditional school education. “It’s not a lot of book work,” she stated, adding that “it’s hands-on. It helps a lot more than book work could.”
She added that “there’s so many different components to DECA.” Those include developing skills in public speaking, meeting new people, and “even learning how to tie a tie.”
“I just joined this year,” shared Mazariego. He advised those thinking of taking part to “just go for it. There’s always opportunities.”. Experiences enjoyed through DECA club, Mazariego said, helped him to build social skills that pave the way for success in both entrepreneurship and life.
Attending statewide and international conferences, he added, helps one “learn what others think of you; learn what others think of West Virginia. You get to travel around the United States and explore.”
Mazariego told of their group meeting a team of elite cheerleaders from Germany in the United States for their own competition.
At ICDC, the team joined groups who came in from across the globe. Competitions included written tests, role playing exercises, and other events in a variety of categories. Said Mazariego, “there’s a category for everybody. There’s a category for you too!”
Combs admitted that “the written tests are pretty difficult,” but “role play is better for people who are social and like to talk.”
One of the most enjoyable parts of the conference came in pin sharing. Each state or country represented has its own specially designed pin. The pin representing West Virginia features the new swings installed in scenic spots all over the state.
Mazariego noted that “DECA is one of the harder programs” of competitive student groups, in large part because 293,000 of the top students from around the world also take part. Also “getting the opportunity to compete in these categories builds you up so well.”
Both students illustrated how DECA has had such a profound effect on their student careers.
Combs said “I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. Now it’s become a lot clearer what I like and what I’m good at.”
“DECA has brought to my attention how social I am, how open-minded I am,” said Mazariego.
