EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was written by students Kelsie Dawe, Lynn “Derek” Lee, Isabella Baker-Villarreal, Andrew Simard, Tyler McCallum, Adam Kelliher, Marin Harvey, Bethany Haight, Zoey Anderson, Pallavi Ravada, Ava Soule and Ava Soule. It was edited and revised by Janice Fronko.

What is DECA? The letters D-E-C-A stand for Distributive Education Clubs of America, an organization first formed in 1946. Globally, DECA trains emerging student leaders from high schools and colleges in the fields of marketing, finance, hospitality and management. There are over 200,000 student members and faculty advisors throughout the United States and Canada. DECA provides training in business etiquette and communications, but also promotes engagement by fostering a healthy competitive spirit among the members. Luckily, this year, eighth graders attending public middle schools in Nashua, as well as eighth graders in the Hillsborough-Deering school district, received a chance to participate in DECA for the first time. They not only learned a great deal, but had lots of fun, as well.

DECA in Nashua

In previous years, there were two separate DECA chapters affiliated with the high schools in Nashua, one at North and one at South. Last year, the two chapters joined forces to form one unified team. At the same time, DECA began opening its ranks to 8th grade students across the globe. After a conversation between Jen Seusing (Assistant Superintendent), Stacy Gingras and Suzanne Winters (high school marketing teacher, DECA advisor), a decision was made to reach out to Nashua’s middle schools. Suzanne said, “The whole thing has been a work-in-progress as we try to plan events that include all the schools. We had some real challenges (mostly out of our control, like the weather during the State competition), but, overall, it has been a great start. We look forward to the current 8th graders’ arrival at the high schools in September!”

How Fairgrounds Middle School became involved

Last year, Fairgrounds Middle School teacher, Kathleen Karvelas and Suzanne Winters, Nashua South, were discussing the FMS school store, where they stumbled upon some DECA jackets. Both Kathleen and Suzanne each manage the school store affiliated with their respective schools. Being curious, Kathleen asked about the jackets, and Suzanne explained DECA’s mission as an organization, a program that prepares students for the real world. Winters extended an invitation to several FMS eighth graders to attend the fall DECA conference. Eventually, Elm Street, Pennichuck and Hillsborough-Deering Middle Schools eagerly joined the organization, and began planning the first ever DECA competition for eighth grade students in New Hampshire.

Field trips

Involvement in the DECA organization meant committing time to a series of field trips and conferences that began in the fall and continued through the school year. The first conference was held at Southern New Hampshire University, and featured guest speaker, Laymon Hicks, a well-known inspirational speaker for teens. Other speakers included high school DECA students, who provided information about DECA’s purpose and educational mission.

On another field trip, the Fairgrounds Middle School DECA team walked from Cleveland Street to Elm Street Middle School, where they met with the other Nashua middle school DECA teams. During this practice, students took a pretest that imitated an authentic high school DECA test. The mock-up test allowed students to determine the type of role play they would engage in, either as a group or individually. After taking time to practice, students were graded on four performance indicators and overall appearance. The Elm Street field trip prepared students for the final competition in May to be held at New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord, NH.

Preparing to compete

Before entering the competition, the Fairgrounds Middle School students armed themselves with DECA knowledge and experience. They felt they had an advantage over the other middle schools (Pennichuck, Elm Street and Hillsborough), because of their preparedness. The FMS team spent many weeks meeting on Monday and Friday mornings. The week prior to the competition, they met every day to strategize and make last minute preparations. Zoey Anderson and Lynn (Derek) Lee, researched and compiled study guides for review and practice. They used the DECA website to find examples of role plays. All practices were judged by fellow members. To further enhance their understanding of DECA requirements, they collaborated with the Nashua Technology Center DECA team to learn what to expect from the competition. All available resources were used to broaden their knowledge of DECA topics, which included emotional intelligence, economics, business and marketing, and business law.

The competition

On May 16th, 2014, twenty-two Fairgrounds Middle School DECA students traveled to NHTI, Concord. They participated in the first ever middle school DECA competition in New Hampshire against the other Nashua middle schools, as well as the Hillsborough-Deering Middle School. The day’s agenda began with a fifty-question test in economics, marketing and communications. “The test was very difficult,” said FMS student Tyler McCallum, “after all, we were being tested on high school concepts.” Some of the students were sent either individually or in teams to the role play competition. An individual competitor, Isabella Baker-Villarreal, said, “The judges’ silence between the questions was the most difficult part of role play.” Andrew Simard and Kelsie Dawe, a team pair, found collaborating and sharing ideas most difficult, especially since prep time seemed very short. While many went into the competition feeling nervous, Zoey Anderson found the week before much more nerve racking. She said, “Once we got to the competition, I felt more relaxed and ready to compete!” Other students felt no worries because of the extensive preparation before-hand. Lynn (Derek) Lee said, “I had great confidence in my peers and our hard work definitely paid off.”

The DECA competition sparked many of FMS DECA students’ desire to continue their membership into high school, and was a sentiment shared by Andrew Simard as an activity to look forward to. Kelsie Dawe agreed and said, “DECA is a great experience that combines brains with competition. It is a perfect activity for any student wanting to enter the business world.”

Winners from the middle school conference

The first ever, Middle School DECA Career Development Conference was a complete success! Students from Nashua’s three middle schools (Fairgrounds, Elm Street and Pennichuck), as well as Hillsboro-Deering Middle School, met at NHTI in Concord to compete in individual and team events that tested their general business knowledge. As you will see from the list below, Nashua did VERY well. Congratulations to all the students who competed and to their teachers, Kathy Karvelas (Fairgrounds), Audrey Langill (Pennichuck) and Cindy Bannon (Elm Street).

Role Play 1 – Emotional Intelligence: 1, Derek Lee, Fairgrounds; 2, Ava Soule, Fairgrounds; 3, Zach Finklestein, Fairgrounds.

Role Play 2 – Communication Skills: 1, Waithira Kiritu, Fairgrounds; 2, Isabella Baker-Villarreal, Fairgrounds; 3, Kaelyn Heffernan – Pennichuck.

Team Role Play 1 – Customer Relations: 1, Marin Harvey and Bethany Haight, Fairgrounds; 2, Nadia Nyberg and Marisa Gaudette, Pennichuck; 3, Kianna Carter and Colby Wilkens, Hillsboro-Deering.

Team Role Play 2 – Economics: 1, Kelsie Dawe and Andrew Simard, Fairgrounds; 2, Tyler McCallum and Owen Mooso, Fairgrounds; 3, Zoe Fillebrown and Jared Zeichick, Elm Street.

For more information about DECA, visit nhdeca.org.