BHS DECA Sees Success At First Competition
A few months after its inception, Bourne High School’s new DECA chapter took part in its first district competition last week. Chapter members earned significant achievements at the competition, including second- and third-place finishes and multiple top 10 placements in various categories.
The students’ success was announced this week in a news release from Bourne Public Schools. The DECA chapter at Bourne High School was formed just three months ago, boasting a total of 30 founding student members. Of those 30 members, 14 competed in the District 8 Conference held January 4 and 5 in Hyannis.
The high school’s new DECA chapter furthers the efforts of Massachusetts DECA and DECA Inc. at the local level, getting students excited about their education and career paths. According to its website, DECA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit career and technical students organization focused on preparing the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. Students participating in DECA are able to leverage the experience “to become academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders,” the news release said.
DECA is popular in both high schools and colleges worldwide, amassing nearly 250,000 members across 4,000 chapters in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Germany. At the high school level, DECA enhances students’ preparation for college and postgraduate careers by providing a variety of co-curricular programs spanning a number of industries. Programs can be easily integrated into the classroom, which DECA’s website says “brings the classroom to life” and empowers educators to make learning relevant and engaging. The four pillars of the DECA Comprehensive Learning Program, per the organization’s website, are to “integrate into classroom instruction, apply learning, connect to business and promote competition.”
Bourne’s team was made up of students from grades 9 through 12 who participated in the areas of retail, marketing, entrepreneurship, hospitality and finance. Scoring at the competition was based on the results of a written exam and two situational role-plays, the district’s news release said.
Of the 14 DECA members from Bourne High School, 10 placed in the top 10 of their category. Sophomore Dhyan Patel placed third overall while earning two second-place finishes in the individual situational role-plays.
According to the school district’s news release, additional student results are as follows:
Emilie Moll and Carley May earned first-place medallions in their second role-play; Abdul Bari received a third-place medallion in his first role-play; JT Luce received a third-place medallion for his written exam; Alexandra Stowe, Michael Pokras, Abdul Bari, Bree Lunedei, Emilie Moll and Carley May all placed seventh overall in their respective categories; JT Luce, Peter Scannel and Ryan Witkus all placed in the top 10 overall in their respective categories; Evan Ryll, Muskan Patel, Doug Lunedei and Jonathan Santucci all performed with excellence in their categories as well.
For Monice Maurice, Bourne High School’s DECA adviser, seeing the students succeed at this first conference was a moment of pride.
“With our new DECA chapter launching only three months ago, we were thrilled to see so many students who wanted to participate in the District conference,” she said in the district’s news release. “To see them do so well on their first try was absolutely fabulous.”
Bourne’s DECA chapter will now focus on the upcoming Massachusetts DECA State Conference, set to be held in Boston on from March 7 to 9. There, BHS DECA members will join more than 2,400 DECA students from across the commonwealth to compete for the opportunity to represent Massachusetts at the DECA International Career Development Conference in Anaheim, California in April.
Also in the district’s news release, Ms. Maurice expressed gratitude to the Grace Swift Nye Grant for its support. The grant is an endowment utilized to enhance the educational offerings for Bourne High School students. The DECA program will help to complement the extensive college and career coursework that is available to Bourne’s students—specifically, the growth of the district’s new Business and Finance Innovation Pathway.
The district asks that anyone interested in helping the high school’s DECA program as a business mentor, judge, sponsor, financial partner, et cetera, to reach out to Ms. Maurice at mmaurice@bourneps.org.