Organization:DECA

<parsererror style="display: block; white-space: pre; border: 2px solid #c77; padding: 0 1em 0 1em; margin: 1em; background-color: #fdd; color: black"> <parsererror style="display: block; white-space: pre; border: 2px solid #c77; padding: 0 1em 0 1em; margin: 1em; background-color: #fdd; color: black">

WHAT IS DECA?

DECA(Distributive Education Clubs of America) is an international organization that works with schools, both high schools, and colleges to, educate aspiring entrepreneurs and soon-to-be leaders. They do this by holding conferences and competitions in the following fields of business; marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.

DECA has been changing lives and impacting futures since 1946, and with their constantly revolving research and education based technology, they have provided the very best program made possible to students in high school and higher education.

DECA has almost 30 competitive events, all aimed to prepare students for not only their future careers but also, the workload that comes along with it. DECA competitions often simulate what it’s like to make big decisions pertaining to the company, or in the case of the entrepreneurship categories, you’d be the one founding the company itself.

HOW CAN YOU START A CHAPTER AT YOUR SCHOOL?

There are two options that a student can choose when wanting to join the DECA organization. You can either join or locate a local DECA chapter either on your campus or in the community, or you can basically be a group of one and compete in competitions solo.

If you choose the first and most common option, which is to join or create a DECA chapter, it's basically like your creating a club on campus. Except in order to be official, and in order for you to compete in regional and global competitions, you have to register your Chapter(club) on the DECA organization's website, which is deca.org. After your club is registered with the organization, it's important that you get the necessary support from stakeholders at the school, like the President, Vice President, Provost, and your Student Government Association. This is really important to your chapter's success since for all competitive events and for your chapter's membership with the DECA organization, fees need to be paid. As you will see in the next few sections, there are many ways you can approach, speaking to these stakeholders and getting the necessary funding your events. In the next section, you'll actually get first-hand tips from a chapter leader, on how she ran her DECA chapter at her school and the obstacles and challenges that came along with that.

INTERVIEW: CAROLINA GONZALEZ