Farmingdale High School’s DECA club recently competed in the New York State DECA conference in Rochester. The competition lasted for three days, from March 5-7, and was attended by over two-thousand students from across the state and Long Island, including twenty-four Dalers who competed at the conference.
DECA—previously Distributive Education Clubs of America—was established in 1946 with the goal of preparing students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management around the globe. The organization prepares future business leaders by providing students with an opportunity to learn real-world business skills and allows students to demonstrate their skills, either as a team or alone, in competition.
Participants compete in highly specialized events within the generalized clusters of marketing, finance, hospitality, management, and communications. There are dozens of events to compete in and no two are exactly the same. Competitions consisted of both a
written multiple choice test and a mock business presentation, in which students role-played as analysts or lower level memebrs of a business, while the judges acted as the company’s owner or CEO. Participants were judged on the content, as well as their manner of presentation.
DECA’s popularity at Farmingdale High School has been increasing over recent years. This year, twenty-four Farmingdale students qualified to compete at the state level, which is a significant increase from years prior. Farmingdale also fared admirably in the competition itself, with ten Dalers placing, including: Ally Ryan, Alexa Torrens, Alec Szigeti, and Ryan Strysk who placed top ten in business law and ethics team decision making, Rachel Fishman placed fourth in visual advertising, Daviah Witter placed top ten in food marketing, Tim Barclay placed top ten in accounting, Jasmine Rashid placed top ten in hospitality professional sales, Michelle Fredricks placed top ten in human resource management and Danielle Bolan placed fourth in decision making marketing.
“All I wanted was a medal,” said Danielle Bolan, a Farmingdale High School senior. “I’m happy all my preparation finally paid off.”
Unlike last year, when three Dalers—Alexander Melton, Sarah Golshahr, and Nitasha Sharma—competed in the National DECA conference in Anaheim, Cali., the Dalers team did not qualify to compete in nationals this year.
Despite the fact, Farmingdale High School DECA advisor Donna Wright said, “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
