Photos submitted by Hamilton DECA.

Natalie Olson

This year, Hamilton celebrated the 60th annual DECA State Career Development Conference (SCDC) in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The competition took place over four days, starting on February 23 and concluding on February 26. For DECA competitors, SCDC gives students an opportunity to network with peers from around the state and test their skills at a higher level than the District competition. Competitors stick to a schedule of tests, project presentations, and practicing roleplay situations to prepare for the different aspects of competition.

Results

Hamilton DECA received a grand total of 129 awards across 45 competitors. They earned 27 plaques and 102 competitive excellence medals. Every medal and plaque is an achievement in itself. Congratulations to every student who went home with some new DECA hardware!

In addition to the student accolades, Mrs. Amanda Fields was recognized as the DECA Chapter Advisor of the Year, honoring her work in growing the state of Wisconsin’s most accomplished DECA chapter.

A special congratulations goes to Olivia Thames and Aanya Ranasaria, who were both elected to serve on the Wisconsin DECA board for the coming term. On the board they will lead and make decisions for the 10,000 DECA members state wide. These students endured months of applications, presentations, and screenings before accepting their positions. Ranasaria will be serving as the Wisconsin DECA President and Thames was appointed as the Vice President of Brand Management. Congratulations to both of these amazing students on their amazing accomplishment, and we wish them all the best as they dedicate their time to carrying on DECA’s mission of empowering the next generation of business leaders.

Hamilton DECA will have 31 competitors advancing on to the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in April.

The Days of Competition

On Sunday, February 23, Hamilton students arrived at the school at 1:00 p.m. for departure at 3:00 p.m. During that time, students broke off into groups, prepping for various aspects of the competition taking place the next few days. Also during this time, members of the school’s administration graciously volunteered to conduct bag searches. The chapter then traveled by bus to the Grand Geneva Hotel. This first night was used by the students to settle into their rooms, pick up their identification badges, and explore the area in hopes of finding the location of their competitions.

On Monday morning, at 8 a.m., the state officer candidates attended elections. Each candidate presented who they are and what they hope to accomplish if elected next year to a panel of judges, the DECA leadership team, and student delegates. Later on, students competing in a project departed for their scheduled presentation times ranging from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Project scores are composed of two or three components depending on the project. Competitions must submit written papers of various lengths prior to the competition for judges to preliminary score. The second part of their score comes from a 15 minute presentation in front of a judge. The third score portion, for only a select number of events, comes from a 100 question test. The events that required a test completed the test at 11 a.m. before the rest of the competition began. Once all projects had been completed, every competitor took their respective categories test at 3:45. Each test is 100 questions long and takes approximately one hour to complete. The categories of tests are Marketing, Finance, Hospitality & Tourism, Entrepreneurship, Personal Financial Literacy, and Business Management & Administration, as well as a separate test for the principles, or beginners’, category. After the test, students receive the time and location of their roleplay competition for the following day. That night, everyone attends the Opening Session where DECA takes time to recognize sponsors and leaders within the organization.

Tuesday is the heart of the competition. On this day, every student competes in two roleplay situations in front of the judges. During a roleplay, students are given 10 minutes (or 30 if competing in a team) to prepare a 10 minute presentation based on a random situation. They must apply situational professional skills and follow several guidelines, also known as performance indicators, in order to solve the problem presented. After competition is over, chapters can attend an optional dinner provided by the Grand Geneva before attending the formal awards ceremony. This award session is just for project competitors to see if they placed within their category. The top six projects of each type qualify for ICDC. Overall, Hamilton had 11 total projects compete and six projects qualified for ICDC. Congratulations, competitors!

Wednesday morning was the final award session which marked the end of DECA State. At awards, the top performers in each series category are called one by one to the stage. Students are eligible to receive recognition for many things. The top 10% of test scores receive a test medal. The previous day each judge picked their top two favorite competitors to receive medals. The scores from the two roleplays and the test will be averaged out to determine if the student(s) is a finalist also receiving a medal. Then from the finalists, the top seven in each category are awarded plaques and have qualified for ICDC. After the award session, the new state officers are announced and a meeting is held to determine which students are taking their spots to ICDC and which students are dropping out. It is at this time that students who placed 8th, 9th, or even sometimes 10th are bumped in and offered a spot to ICDC.