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NC State Collegiate DECA to Host District Competition

Brianne Bower, a College of Management sophomore and one of the co-founders of NC State’s collegiate chapter of DECA, said the competition will involve “business and marketing role-playing competitions in six categories.”

The six categories are:

  • Retail management
  • Apparel and accessories
  • Quick serve restaurant management
  • Sports and entertainment marketing
  • Sports and entertainment team decision making (for two students)
  • Principles of marketing (for first-year marketing students)

The NC State club, officially known as Delta Epsilon Chi, has chosen to be called NC State Collegiate DECA for the sake of name recognition, so recruiters can market it more effectively to high school DECA members. The goal and purpose of the club is to “prepare students for the workforce through competitive events designed to replicate situations in the business world,” Bower said. Members learn much about what they are interested in by participating in and judging the events.

Last year, the NC State club had 25 paid members. Bower and co-founder Thomas Elmo Lamm, Jr., also a College of Management sophomore, look to double the number of members this year. The two founders of the club were both in the same high school DECA chapter and competed together in a few events. All of the other board members of the chapter participated in high school DECA as well.

While college students may join the collegiate DECA chapter at NC State without prior experience in the organization, former members of high school DECA are “high priority recruits,” Bower said.

“There is a competition area for every major on campus,” Bower said. “We recruit our current members to serve as judges at the high school district and state competition. Several of our new members were actually judged by current members at the state high school conference last year. We recruit freshmen from the College of Management by speaking to the largest freshmen classes.”

The high school chapter of DECA and the collegiate chapter of DECA are different in that high school chapters are much larger and offer more competitive events. In April of 2010, there will be an International Career Development Conference in Louisville, Ky., in which both high school and collegiate chapters will participate.

Benefits of Joining

NC State Collegiate DECA plays a vital role in preparing its members for the workforce, Bower said. Through DECA, students are connected with internships and job opportunities, giving them the ability to network with professionals.

“Students competing in various events develop exceptional skills for interviewing, presentations, problem-solving, and improvising. In a typical role-play event, students are given a situation with a problem and ten minutes to prepare a solution, which is delivered through a presentation to a judge. In a prepared business situation like the Advertising Campaign, students have all year until their competition to prepare a written manual outlining their plans and are then asked to prepare a presentation that further explains the campaign. Most events require students to take an exam related to their area of competition,” Bower said.

Getting involved with DECA enables students to see many different possible solutions to problems and to develop creative ideas. Student judges “often learn very quickly that there are many ways to approach a different situation,” said Bower.

Competition Details

Students participating in the competition will arrive at 9:30 a.m. for an opening session in Stewart Theatre. They will then be directed to their competition areas. After competing, students will have free time from 12:30 to 3:00 p.m. NC State’s DECA chapter will provide workshops, campus tours, and possibly chapter activities. Students will depart after a closing awards ceremony in Stewart Theatre at 3:00 p.m.

Participating students will be given “a test related to their category and then a situational role play where [they] are given a written situation 10 minutes prior to seeing a judge,“Bower said.

“The judge is part of the role-play situation and evaluates the students based on their problem-solving skills. Any student who receives a proficient score qualifies to compete at the NC DECA Career Development Conference. Students will win a medal in their category if they have a top 10 test score. Students will receive a medal in their category if they receive a top 10 role play score. [The two] scores are then averaged. Students receiving the top 10 averaged scores receive a finalist medal. The top three also receive a trophy and a plaque,” she said.

Photo

deca officers are, from left to right: Brianne Bower, Thomas Lamm, Jr., and Teresa Heath.

About DECA

DECA helps students to develop skills for successful business careers, build self–esteem, experience leadership and practice community service. DECA members create friendships with like–minded people from all over the world at career and leadership conferences and build resumes that move them to the top of the job and college application list. Membership includes over 185,000 high school students in 5,000 chapters, located in the U.S., Canada, German, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

About Delta Epsilon Chi

Delta Epsilon Chi is the college division of DECA. More than 14,000 students from 230 college campuses participate in the organization. The institutions include community colleges, technical colleges, four–year colleges and universities. Delta Epsilon Chi enhances the student’s college experience by providing recognition and leadership activities directly related to academic study.

At the NC State College of Management, Brendalee McCarthy, director of Internships and Career Development for the Undergraduate Programs Office, is faculty advisor for the campus group. The club meets monthly;dates will be posted to the College of Management website’s events calendar.