On Dec. 8, 25 students participated at the Pa. DECA District II competition at the Sheraton Hotel in Coraopolis, Pa.

“It’s an academic competition for business students,” Freedom’s DECA advisor, Mrs. Beth Majors said. “It’s an international organization; there are DECA chapters all over the world.”

At the District II level, Freedom students competed against Aliquippa, North Allegheny, Chartiers Valley, Pennsylvania Cyber and Beaver County Career and Technology Center.

During the competition, students took two tests. All participants were required to take a 50-point general marketing exam. Then, students were assigned a 100-point test based on the career cluster they were competing in.

In addition to the testing, students took part in a business scenario role play.

“They’re given a situation in a business scenario and they have to solve it,” Majors said. This roleplay is done in front of a judge, who scored them based on their performance.

Freedom had individuals place in Apparel and Accessories Marketing, Business Finance Services, Hotel and Lodging Management, Human Resources Management and Retail Merchandising. Teams placed in the Business Law and Ethics, Buying and Merchandising, Marketing and Communications and Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making events. Students who placed in top two teams or top four individuals qualified for the state competition.

“To move on to states as freshmen feels amazing and very shocking! I honestly didn’t think we’d do well and we were very surprised to hear our names announced for second place,” Freshman Kayla Eaton, who was on a team with Freshman Kitt Jordan, said.

In addition to taking part in competitions for these awards, some DECA members have more involved roles within the organization. Currently, Senior Ryan Gray is the District II representative.

“I took a test last year in order to be one this year. The test is 100 points and tests your overall knowledge of DECA, as well as some specific [Pa.] DECA knowledge,” Gray said.

“Being District II state representatives means that I’m an officer for the state of Pennsylvania. My job is to make sure things are running smoothly in all my district’s chapters, [which contains] about seven, and be there to help when I can,” Gray said.

This year, Juniors Reilly Collins and Louis Dubovi both took the same test as Gray.

“Both Reilly and Louis had to take a test and pass the test. They needed letters of recommendation [and] a certain GPA,” Majors said. Collins will become the District II representative next year, while Dubovi will campaign for Pennsylvania DECA president at the state competition.

“At states, I’m going to have to go and set up a booth and, at that booth, I’ll have all my information about my platform and why I’m running and, as the students come into the hotel, we’ll be passing out information [and] talking to kids,” Dubovi said. “After that, I’ll have to give a speech to the voting delegates and then, the next day, they’ll be voting.”

The state competition will take place in Hershey, Pa. in February.