On Mar. 4–6, Pascack Valley High School students traveled to Atlantic City, NJ to compete in the DECA state competition.
DECA, formally known as the Distributive Education Clubs of America, describes itself as a non-profit organization that “prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.”
28 Pascack Valley students qualified for the State Career Development Conference after the Regional Competition on Jan. 14 at Ramapo College. The students were accompanied by DECA advisors and PV teachers Matt Schulien and Jonathon Rose.
The state competition was held at Harrah’s Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ, where there were over 4,000 students from schools across the state.
However, only six Pascack Valley students qualified for the International Career Development Conference in Orlando, FL, which will be held on Apr. 26–29.
Ethan Ross (Sr.), Mason Herzog (Sr.), and Robbie Wasserman (Sr.) qualified in the Start-Up Business Plan competition, Sehaj Manchada (Jr.) qualified in the Financial Consulting competition, and Anthony Luciano (Sr.) and Nicholas Najarian (Sr.) qualified for Financial Services Team Decision Making.
After being in the program for so long, Schulien sees the impact the program has on the students first-hand.
“I’ve been the advisor for ten years, and we’ve been going to Atlantic City for seven years, and every year it’s the same: students have a lot of fun meeting other students and other people from their chapter,” Schulien said.
Even though many students did not get the outcome they were looking for, Schulien believes that the competition was a great way for underclassmen to expose themselves to public speaking and problem-solving situations.
“A lot of the people have the same knowledge of a content area, but it’s how well you present it and the confidence you have is the biggest difference in moving forward,” Schulien said.
