In the beginning of the school year, all West Bloomfield High School (WBHS) marketing and economics students have the opportunity to take part in the Distributive Education Club of America (DECA). DECA is an international competition for emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. Students who choose to participate in DECA have the opportunity to choose from various chapters and to work either individually or in groups on different projects. Some of the projects include role play, community service projects, 30 page written research projects, and virtual business.This year, seniors Max Singer, Dana Betty, Tara Naoum, Alex Mcdonough, Max Miller, Eli Ravid, Annie Liu, Cameron Johnson, Shawn Matharu, Dominique Hermiz, Deja Kirkwood, Chelsea Smith, Kush Pandya, Joanna Dabish, Starr Lewis, Ayana Adam, Jarrell Ku, Brooke George, Sidrah Saleem, Asad Aftab, Thaddeus Stawiarski, Kaitlin Clark, Brandon Ehrlichman, Emma Huez, Jasmine Morigney, Jesse Jeppesen, Mitchell Hotz, David Hotz, Lindsay Czinder, Daniel Eilender, and Rupin Balabhadra chose to participate. Under the supervision of teachers Joel Hunt, Lisa Sallen, Jacqueline Evola, and Julie Zalla, these seniors dedicated time in and out of the classroom towards their projects to compete in regional, state, and international competition.

As Clark’s first year participating in DECA, she competed in retail merchandising. Clark said her favorite part of DECA was “traveling outside of our bubble and meeting so many different people.” She also said that DECA was extremely helpful and insightful for her plans to go into business in the future.

Ehrlichman has competed in individual role play for three years. His favorite part was, “meeting people from other schools and creating a better bond with people in DECA from WBHS.”

After states in March, fourteen seniors made their way to Orlando, Florida for the International Career Development Conference (ICDC), also known as DECA Internationals. These seniors included David Hotz, Mitchell Hotz, Emma Huez, Jasmine Morigney, Jesse Jeppesen, Rupin Balabhadra, Jonny Nirenberg, Daniel Eilender, Jacob Rashty, Jarrell Ku, Roberto Escalante, Lindsay Czinder, Aaron Moskovitz, and Eli Ravid. “Going to Orlando with some of my best friends was my favorite part of DECA,” said Ravid.

For Hotz, this was his second year going to nationals. He did a 30-page research operation written project with Nirenberg and Balabhadra on Birmingham Bloomfield Credit Union. “DECA has many exciting parts to it, the ones that seemed to stick out the most were meeting so many kids networking and making friends with them, being able to travel with your friends to Internationals, and lastly the competitive edge of competing against other kids and winning medals and trophies,” said Hotz.

Morigney worked alongside seniors Huez and Jeppesen on a community service project with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Morigney said that DECA, “helped [her] communicate better because DECA requires a lot communication between partners, teachers, companies, and judges.”

DECA is an extracurricular that requires a large time commitment, but many students benefit greatly from being a part of it. “[DECA] helps me be more confident when speaking in front of large crowds and coming up with new and inventive ideas,” said Hermiz. Whether they are going into business and marketing or not, DECA was definitely an event that these seniors will remember and it will be difficult to say goodbye but they have all learned and benefited from participating in it.

DECA seniors will indeed be missed; good luck out in the next market!