DECA

*This is all from high school, but was a big part of my life. I am only keeping it up because it is something I think is cool to be able to look back on.*

Going into my freshman year, I only knew two people at my school.. and I was the shy girl. I knew that high school was my fresh start. Nobody knew me, and I could be whoever I wanted to be. I also knew there was no way for me to make make myself do this, mainly because I did not know how to. So I joined DECA! DECA is a club that prepares emerging LEADERS for future careers in business and finance. That's what I wanted to be, a leader. 

In DECA, there are two types of competitive events, role-plays and manuals. For each different role-play event, you are given a role, a situation and fifteen minutes to prepare how you would approach this. Then, you present your plans and ideas to a judge.  This went way past anywhere near my comfort zone when I was a freshman. I eliminated the role-play leaving me with the manual. Manuals are either fifteen or thirty pages depending on the event, and each have a fifteen minute presentation. While this still was way out of my comfort zone, I felt as though I had more security it because I could prepare for it and know exactly what I had to say. 

My Grandpa owns a water company, Diamond Creek Water, and I chose a project called the Creative Marketing Project. My partner and I had to come up with a problem in my community and market Diamond Creek Water as a solution to this chosen problem. We planned this whole event week out in hopes it would improve dehydration in students. Long story short, we ended up getting a 54/60 on the manual and a THIRTY NINE OUT OF FORTY on the presentation! We got second place and earned us a spot to the International Career Development Conference!!

The next year, I competed in the same event, but we worked with a local dojo and planned events to improve self-defense. This project got 4th place, and we earned our ticket to ICDC again! However, I did not get to go due to a major baseball accident I faced, which you can read about here. At the end of my sophomore year, I decided I wanted to be a FCHS DECA Officer! I filled out my application and absolutely crushed my interview to become the VP of Leadership! 

This year is my junior year. Going into it, I found out they change my old event and made it the Business Solutions Project. This new event kind of scared me actually, because I did not know how to approach this or what half the terms meant. I also was competing in a Sports and Entertainment Role-play for the first time. We worked with a local gym, Eat the Frog Fitness, and worked on the 8,000 high school students within a five mile radius. We ended up getting 10th place, even with a 38/40 for our presentation. Our manual judge, was very tough and very few from that judge actually made it to ICDC this year. Despite not earning a spot to ICDC, I am still very proud of all of the work I have accomplished and how much I really have changed due to this program! All of my manuals can be found in my LinkedIn profile (here)