On January 13, 2025, River Dell’s Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) members participated in their first competition at Ramapo College.
According to Quad Education, “(DECA) is a high school and college program for students interested in business. The organization prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.”
Essentially, it is a platform that allows students to practice entrepreneurial skills in relation to different business areas.
For example, students may choose from the business categories of Business Management and Administration, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Hospitality and Tourism, Marketing, and Personal Financial Literacy. Each person then competes against other members within the same category to come up with the best answer for a given prompt in a role-play scenario.
Depending on if students are in a group of multiple people or if a student is an individual competitor, they will receive either 10 or 30 minutes of preparation to answer the given prompt. They then have 10 minutes to present it to the judge.
The winners of January 13th’s competition were invited to a second competition happening in March in Atlantic City where students across the state will compete for a place in the international competition.
DECA invited River Dell students Angela Lee, Kim Hernandez, Patel Okrainsky, Zhao Estrin, Rivera Cho, Audrey Cho, Matt Kochian, and Caroline Boyle to this new competition.
Angela Lee, a Junior at River Dell, explained that she “was really excited” when she found out she was invited into Atlantic City “because this was the first time [she] had been accepted for [participating in] a role-play [scenario].”
Prior to this recent competition, Lee explained that she decided to “write a 10- or 20-page paper” to qualify for States instead of participating in these role-play scenarios like she did on January 13th. However, Lee’s accomplishment was no easy task.
Ms. Lenihan, a teacher at River Dell and the advisor of DECA, said that “it was a long process” to get students prepared.
Leading up to the competition, DECA participants took a 100-question DECA Test “to demonstrate their understanding of business concepts and to participate in further competitions,” explained Sabrina Klein, freshman at River Dell and member of DECA. This test accounts for about 30% of their overall score for their role-play scenarios.
According to Ms. Lenihan when formulating a team’s or individual’s score, judges look for “performance indicators” which vary depending on which business model a student has chosen. Performance indicators may include “business law” and “communication skills,” according to DECA.org. 70% of the student’s score is then based on criteria including these performance indicators and assessment of “21st Century Skills,” explained Lenihan.
In order to receive the best score, she could, Swara Jhaveri, another member of DECA, explained that she “took practice tests to prepare for [the] exam” and used a “Quizlet,” that Ms. Lenihan provided club members with.
Overall, Ms. Lenihan believes that DECA gives students tools they will need later in life. “It’s just a great opportunity for students to get the skills that they need when they get into college,” Lenihan expressed.
