Marketing club makes their mark

DECA, a club that prepares students to be leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing related careers, is one of the largest and most active groups at BSHS. According to DECA adviser Kelly Fowler, last semester, DECA traveled to Branson, Minneapolis, and William Jewell 

Although DECA is a part of the marketing classes, there is also an outside of class and competitive compon

ent to the club. In a sense, DECA relates to forensics in that participants compete at events that are correlated to their business interests.  

“There are students who do role play interviews. They are given a kind of scenario of a situation, usually in the work world, and they have to look at the problem or the objective  of what they are being asked, and then they have to get creative on how they would solve that or plan for something,” Fowler said.

This type of role playing scenarios give students the kind of real world experience they would not get otherwise.

“It gives you a lot of areas to be creative, communicate your ideas out to someone else, and try to persuade someone else that that is a good idea,” Fowler said.

Another area that students participate in requires preparation before hand. 

“The other end is some of our college students write 10 to 20 page papers inside of their class, and then they take those things and turn them into a presentation that they would present to a judge,” Fowler said. 

DECA not only helps teens bring out their creative entrepreneurship, it also brings out character and individuality. 

by doing things like competition which is like role plays and marketing research papers, business plans, presentations,” Fowler said.

Fowler noted that DECA offers students leadership opportunities as well. 

“It might also empower them to into being a leader, and they can also be like district and state leaders,” said Fowler. 

DECA competes not only at the regional level, but at the state and national as well. It is everywhere, consisting of over 3,775 chapters nationwide according to its website.  

“Its in Canada, it’s in Cuba, it’s in Puerto Rico. its in China, its in Germany, it’s in Mexico. It’s everywhere. They’re usually at not necessarily larger schools but either  at some larger schools or like career tech centers. We have one of the bigger chapters in the state,” Fowler said.