On Jan. 8, 31 students from South competed in the DECA districts competition. Among the 31, 19 advanced to the State competition.
According to advisor Erin Moretz, students participated in a variety of competitions across several business topics, including management, travel and tourism and entertainment.
“DECA’s an academic club,” Moretz said. “That speaks to the students there that they want to excel academically. And not only that, but professionally because it helps them out for thinking on their feet, interviewing skills, critical thinking skills and problem solving.”
Sophie Schuetze ’23 said her older brother convinced her to join DECA freshman year. She has gone on to attend state competitions three times.
“My freshman year my brother was a senior,” Schuetze said. “He’s the one who convinced me to join, so he was like, ‘You’re doing this, no questions’. I did it, and I am so glad because three years later, here I am, and I’m now vice president.”
Adelina Parikh ’25 participated in her first DECA competition in financial team decision making and advanced to states.
“I feel like I performed pretty well,” Parikh said . “I definitely think that the roleplay portion definitely threw me a curveball. But a lot of the roleplay portion, at least, is confidence in what you’re saying. And a little bit of faking it. I don’t have as much life experience knowing about financial decisions. My lack of life experience definitely made it a little bit more difficult, but it was nothing I couldn’t overcome.”
States will be held from March 10-12, 2022 according to Schuetze. She said public speaking is an important asset in DECA competitions, because competition includes a role playing activity in addition to a written test.
“I’m most proud of the way I present myself and the way I can speak clearly and confidently, which is something that takes practice, especially in a high stress situation like DECA,” Schuetze said.
Moretz said the students represented South well, academically and professionally.
“The students took ownership, and they did a really good job,” Mortez said. “Especially by being responsible and arriving on time. Even the little things here make such a difference. I feel like all of our students are really strong in the dedication and responsibility aspect of it. Because it is an extracurricular, it really shows a lot about them.”