The business club DECA, which is a branch of the Distributive Education Clubs of America, competed in its regional competition on Jan. 15. Richard Montgomery, Churchill, Walter Johnson, Poolesville and Clarksburg were among the schools that competed. 

In a normal year, the competition consists of speaking events with competitors working alone or with a partner. First the competitors are required to take a test on business terms and different aspects of business. Next, competitors are given a prompt that provides information about a different aspect of business. This could be anything from principles of hospitality and tourism to financial services, and competitors must respond to these prompts in front of a judge. They have 10 minutes to prepare their response before presenting. Finally, there is an awards ceremony where knowledgeable and reputable speakers are brought out to talk to competitors about business in the real world before the results are announced.

This year, however, the competition was held over Zoom, which led to some changes in the way the events took place. Competitors were given their prompts a day before the competition took place, giving them the ability to write scripts and do research to better prepare themselves for the live events. This benefitted competitors such as junior Sai Mandhan, who won his event and scored the highest on the exam. “The extra day really helped us prepare. We were able to practice our presentation and felt very confident in ourselves on the day of the competition,” Mandhan said. 

The DECA team overall had a great performance in the competition, winning three out of the eight events and having an additional three teams placing third or better in events as well. This type of performance is encouraging for the team, as they are heading into their statewide competition on Feb. 26. This competition has a similar format to the regional competition, but with more events and more competitors. Winning an event in the state competition qualifies a team for the international competition. “The goal of the whole season is to qualify for the international competition. The best teams from all over the world are competing, and winning an event in this competition is the goal of anyone competing in DECA,” junior Aarnav Tare said. 

The club hosts monthly meetings in English teacher Nicholas Confino’s room (230) where they go over practice scenarios of different events to prepare for all of the competitions. Last year, Mandhan’s preparation and business knowledge led him and junior Peter Stanton-Shepard to qualify for last year’s interactive competition. The competition was held virtually via Zoom, but in a normal year, all participants get to travel to wherever the competition is being held. Last year’s competition would’ve been in Orlando, FL, and this year’s international competition is being held in person in Atlanta, GA. Students are at these locations for a week while the competitions take place and also get to enjoy the locations as tourists while they aren’t competing. “I am very excited to travel to Atlanta for the international competition,”  Tare’s partner, junior Nihkil Bakshi said.