DECA is an international organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in the four principles of marketing. With over 200,000 members worldwide, DECA encompasses members at both the high school and collegiate level. Medaille College is a smal private school in Buffalo, Ny, home to a little more than 1,500 undergraduate students. A small handfull of these students, lead by Tania Abousaid and Karen McGrath comprise the DECA chapter at Medaille, and work to represent their school to the best of their abilities.
Students in the DECA Region 12 Competition compete in various categories of their choice. The competitions are classified into role plays and written events. In a role play, students must think on their feet as they are presented with a task and a time limit just prior to meeting their judges. In a written scenario, competitors have months to prepare a business proposal and create a presentation, based on the topic assigned. Competitions allow students to think about real world problems that they might face in their occupations in the future.
In all three categories, competitors meet with judges who play roles such as the CEO of a business, a supervisor, etc. The judges score the competitors based on their professional demeanor, their responses, and how capable the competitors arein meeting the requirements assigned. Students must compete at regionals to qualify at states.
On Sunday, January 11th, Medaille hosted the Region 12 DECA completion. This region encompasses 14 high schools in the Western New York area. Medaille College’s DECA chapter, Medaille staff, and the DECA advisor are to thank for planning Regionals. Nearly 600 students were on our campus to compete! Past NYS Vice President and Founder/President of Medaille’s DECA Chapter, Tania Abousaid, helped the regional board plan the event on campus.
It was a fresh new step for both Medaille and Reigon 12 of DECA, who’ve never teamed up before. But the chemistry was unmistakeable, as the two previously individual entities teamed up to make this event work. Medaille’s Buffalo campus was the perfect fit, with the three main buildings housing just enough seats to fit all of the competitors and staff members. And the energy and life DECA brought to the campus was a breath of fresh air to the college. The high school competitiors got a unique perspective of the campus, being able to see multiple classrooms, the events arena, gym, library and other hot spots of the campus for extended periods of time. They came with a wealth of questions and competition jitters, absorbing as much information about the college as they could in between quick practice sessions for their competition of choice.
Here’s hoping that Medaille and DECA team up again for years t come, continuing to provide high school students an amazing club to grow and succeed in at a college that will likely be a perfect fit for many of them after their high schol years are behind them.
Find the original Medaille article here.