With a successful 2024 season, the ADM DECA team is gearing up for the next season. DECA is an organization that gets high school (and college) students ready for the world of marketing and accounting. DECA exercises students’ business skills by competing in events, such as case studies and business plans.
As the ADM team begins to prepare, DECA director Evan Wiebers shares his thoughts on the new season, such as how he is preparing for DECA as ADM’s new business teacher. “Honestly, [I’m] leaning on a lot of the instructions that have been given to us, because this is my first year teaching DECA.” Wiebers said. “To ready myself I’m just looking through all the materials, asking other teachers at other schools and what experiences they’ve had, with tips and examples.”
While Wiebers is getting ready for this next season, participating students are preparing as well.
Leah Chapman, a current and past member of DECA, reflects on her 2024 experience preparing and participating in competitions. “We went to Iowa State and did different breakout sessions and learned about different leadership things. This year we need to find out what competitions to do, what I’m doing at districts and since then we use study tools and practice tests because that’s part of the overall score.”
DECA also allows business students to prepare for a career in business and marketing. In DECA, students’ knowledge is tested through case studies, prepared presentations and online simulations. Competition events where students are answering a prompt also exercise students’ leadership skills, public speaking and critical thinking.
Leah Chapman states, “I think it teaches good people skills and I also just enjoy business in general.”
Not only is DECA preparing students for business, it also teaches students essentials for the real world.
Alaina Nelson, the DECA president, also had a good experience participating in DECA last year. “You can use it to talk to people and meet new people in job interviews and use it for experience in future business classes,” Nelson explains. “It’s more knowledge and a good opportunity.”
