DECA is an organization here at FHS that prepares students for possible careers they can pursue in the future. It’s an international association made up of high school and college students that use skills in marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality and marketing and sales and service.

On April 26-29, four DECA members, along with sponsor Beth Majors, travelled to Anaheim, California to attend the national competition. Senior Devin Daley and junior Daniel White competed in the competition in the Marketing Team Decision-Making event. Junior Rachel DeCesaris attended a workshop entitled “Empower” and finishing out her term as District 2 Representative with the state. Senior Avery Sayre attended a workshop called “Aspire.”

“DECA is different from anything else I’ve ever been involved in because it offers you experiences that can’t be offered by any other club or class. DECA has introduced me to some of the best people and taken me to some of the best places and, for that, I’m grateful for it,” Daley said.
Students arrived on Wednesday, where they attended opening sessions with Echosmith performing. The students got to meet each other and make connections as they traded pins that each state made. The following day, the DECA work started. Tests were taken by students competing and others attended their different workshops. On Friday, workshops continued and students competing went to their different roleplays, which is what Daley and White had to do for their category. On Saturday, finals occurred, narrowing each category to the top ten where they all had to compete again in order to see if they would place.

“It was an amazing experience to compete in California. There are students from so many different parts of the world, and seeing California itself was breathtaking,” White said. “It was different from any previous competitions because I had only previously made it to the state competition where there were only Pennsylvania kids, but now there were thousands of students from every corner of the world.”
Daley and White earned their national spot after receiving second place in their event at the DECA state competition held in February.

“My favorite memory of the trip was definitely visiting the Santa Monica Pier because it is such a unique and cool place to be able to say I went,” Daley said.

DeCesaris finished out one term as an Executive Council member, but started another term for the 2017-2018 school year.

“It was amazing to see everyone from Pennsylvania again and to meet people from all over the world. As an officer, people can spot you quickly and often times compare organizations and gather together to tell stories. It was fun to talk to other officers and share stories as well all ended our term,” DeCesaris said.

The DECA team has now ended their 2016-2017 season and the members are preparing themselves to improve for next year.