“Of the 40 students who are chosen to go to state competition, everyone does a role play, which, while requiring practice and studying, is not what a DECA member spends all their time working on. A role play is a ten minute presentation or solution a competitor must pitch to a judge only ten minutes after finding out the situation or problem they must solve. The categories can be chosen from Finance, Marketing, Sports, Fashion, Hospitality, and many others, and it can be a partner event as well as an individual. In addition, an economic test and a test based on the category chosen are added to the score from the role play. However, what many DECA members who are attending state competition are really betting on is their written projects. These written projects consist of either an eleven page paper or a 30 page paper and then a 20 minute or 15 minute presentation, respectively.”

“Every member on this trip has earned a spot on this roster through hard work by taking many practice tests, practicing role plays, and committing themselves to be the best prepared as possible. All of those members competing in a written project have probably worked harder and have spent more hours on this than any other project in their days at Niles West. The goal,” DECA sponsor and business teacher Jean Attig is to medal at state and to qualify for nationals held in Orlando next month.”

While the competition entails hours of work in preparation as well as hectic days at the competition, Daczo believes the hard work will most certainly pay off.

“DECA has been a big part of my live, and this year especially the state competition is important. I have two 30 page papers, and my partners and I have been working hard to perfect each one. We’ve been working on the projects since even before this school year started, and we are confident we will qualify due to the amount of work and time we’ve put in.  If we qualify, ” she explained, “we will take our project to the International DECA Competition in Orlando, Florida!”

“Most students know us because of DECAlicious, our student-run frozen yogurt business,’ Attig said, “but these student are so much more–they are our future business leaders in the areas of finance, marketing, hospitality, and business management and administration.”

According to Attig, the Niles West DECA program has already earned over 80 medals in their regional competition and they hope to continue the high level of success at state.