Just days after the holiday break, business-minded students from AE’s DECA club competed in the New Jersey DECA Northwest and Northeast District Conference at Ramapo College on January 8, 2020. The team consisted of 20 sophomores, juniors, and seniors from AE’s Finance Academy, and they attended the conference with advisor Emilee Kuznetsov.

“These were students I was meeting for the first time and they did well at the competition. They seemed to enjoy themselves and enjoy preparing for it, too,” Ms. Kuznetsov said. 

 DECA is a nationwide student organization that prepares students as business leaders and entrepreneurs in the pursuits of marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. It formerly stood for Distributive Education Clubs of America. 

Prior to the trip, participants were each assigned to a competitive event by career cluster, like Apparel and Accessories Marketing Series and Financial Consulting. Once at Ramapo College, they had to locate their designated rooms according to their given topic and each were then tasked with a corresponding role-play scenario. In each scenario, students had to solve a problem from the perspectives of their characters. 

To impress the judges, they had to utilize their prior knowledge and tap into their critical thinking skills. 

“I felt that the high point of the trip was understanding that I had to think more critically to present something to the judges. The low point was that it was my first time and I messed up my role playing interview,” sophomore Timmy Zhang remarked. 

Competing against hundreds of other New Jersey high schoolers, they could not help but feel the tension despite their eagerness and determination. 

Although the team did not advance to States, they were still able to learn and grow individually, academically, and socially. 

Senior Alice Zhao, who is serving her third and final year as a member of DECA, was glad to see the club growing.

“There were a lot more people this year and more people placed than last year,” Alice said.

In hopes of competing next year to keep the tradition going, the DECA club plans to hold fundraisers this spring.