Niles North DECA wins at Illinois State Championship. Over the weekend of March 3- March 5, 2022, in Rosemont Illinois. DECA competed with over 20 schools from Illinois and won out of all of them. 

DECA’s industry-validated competitive events are aligned with the National Curriculum Standards in the career clusters of marketing, business management, administration, finance, and hospitality and tourism. DECA’s flagship evaluation process involves students in both a written component such as an exam or report and an interactive component with an industry professional serving as a judge.

“This was the first of our competitions,” said Business Education and DECA advisor Ms. Attig. “Of the 37 members who competed, only three have ever competed in person before the pandemic. We are a young chapter. 19 of these competitors earned at least 1 top 3 medal in either the role-play event or the career cluster test.  8 earned Top 3 overall medals in their event.  42 members will be going to the next level!  This will help propel us into our state competition which will happen on March 3-5 where there will be over 1,200 students from around the state competing for a bid to our ICDC (Internationals) in Atlanta.”  

Niles North DECA members worked hard to progress and succeed. These awards were earned through DECA members’ hard work and determination throughout the semester.

The first student who won, Areebah Hussain (Junior) expressed that she felt rewarded after the competition.

“I felt really accomplished because it was a lot of the competitors’ first time competing in person and we did really well for that and many people won awards as well,” Hussain said. Even though it was a lot of people’s first time they still were able to achieve awards.

The second student Ishika Mehta (Junior) explained the anxiety that comes with participating in the competition.

“During intense competitions like DECA, it’s easy to feel unmotivated when you see your opponents or people who seem more prepared and confident than you,” Mehta said. Being unmotivated and feeling nervous is normal before DECA competitions. 

The third student, Noora Mekhaeel (Junior) conveyed that competing against other schools can cause some worry within competitors.

“The competition we had against some schools was tense and pretty hard.” DECA competes against multiple schools which can be intimidating, Mekhaeel said. 

As Ms. Attig explained, DECA members have been preparing for this competition since the beginning of the semester. Throughout the semester students worked on Role-Playing, practice test-taking, and a 20 page written project. Thanks to hardworking and determined Niles North DECA members, Niles North is one of the oldest and most successful chapters in the state and continues to sustain that legacy.