While DECA is Franklin High School’s largest club, many questions about the organization still arise from students: What does DECA stand for? What does one do in DECA? Where do people travel to for DECA?
DECA Inc. was founded in 1946, formerly standing for the Distributive Education Clubs of America. However, the corporation has expanded past America, creating chapters in Canada, China, Germany, Poland, Guam, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain. Since 1946, DECA has obtained 224,000 members. DECA strives to create young emerging leaders and entrepreneurs through competitions in 4 career clusters: Marketing, Finance, Hospitality & Tourism, and Business Administration & Management. DECA opens students up to a professional realm of collaboration, new experiences, leadership opportunities, skill improvement, lasting friendships, and academic success. Since DECA is an international corporation, Franklin High School is lucky to say it has its very own chapter.
Franklin DECA prides itself on being the largest club at FHS, accounting for approximately 300 members. Within Franklin DECA, students attend meetings where they learn how to craft their projects and choose whether they want to compete in either a written event or a roleplay event. When choosing between the two, confusion can arise as students become unsure of which event will be best for them.
Written events are prepared business plans that answer a set prompt, therefore they are better for those who are pleased by organization and preparedness. In contrast, roleplay events are better for students who enjoy working on the spot and do not take a major interest in writing. At competitions, roleplay participants are given an on-site case study and 30 minutes of prep time to prepare how to improvise and conquer the prompt.
To compete in these events, Franklin DECA begins with their January district competition, located at Mansfield High School in Mansfield, MA. At this competition, for each DECA event/category, four groups place and advance to the state-level competition in Boston, MA, known as the State Career Development Conference. SCDC occurs in March and is recognized by Franklin attendees to be one of the most fun Franklin DECA experiences as it brings together not only a large amount of Franklin DECA but also participants and friends from neighboring towns. After competing in SCDC, the top six teams that place from each event advance to Nationals (International Career Development Conference) in the spring. This year, ICDC will be held in Anaheim, California. However, in April 2023, ICDC was held in Orlando, Florida.
FHS senior, Ava Davies, Franklin DECA’s Membership Vice President, and 2023 ICDC participant stated that ICDC allowed her to “collaborate professionally with students from all around, something that high school doesn’t always allow for.”
Her insight demonstrates the professional aspect of DECA and how it provides attendees with a new kind of collaboration with peers their age. Through DECA competitions, Davies saw a drastic improvement in her, “public speaking, presentation, and communication skills.” This newfound professionalism opened Davies up to useful skills that can soon be applied in both college and future jobs. With this, Davies loves that DECA provides students with the ability to practice these skills through topics that they choose and find interesting. In the future, these skills will be not only useful for business but also in many other fields of study, job interviews, and networking.
Moving forward into the 2023-2024 school year, Franklin DECA’s leadership team is very excited to create a “Chapter of Excellence”. Franklin DECA will be working towards achieving this goal through fundraising events, mentorship programs, and regular meetings. Franklin DECA looks forward to providing more insight about the club and teaching new members how to prepare themselves for real-world leadership, problem-solving, communication, and critical thinking.