On March 6th, Niles North’s DECA chapter arrived at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare hotel in Rosemont for the yearly Illinois Career Development Conference—known informally as the DECA State competition. 65 students qualified this year, led by their four advisors: Jean Attig, Kara Mielke, Sara Torres, and Duane Williams.
DECA, or Distributive Education Clubs of America, is an organization that prepares aspiring business leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA competitions are divided into Written Events and Role-Play Events. Written events involve pre-prepared business plans or marketing strategies, which competitors submit as reports and present to judges. Role-play events test on-the-spot problem-solving, where participants receive a business scenario, prepare a response within a time limit, and present their solution.
Students who place top four in a Role-Play competition or top three in a Written Event category qualify for the International Career Development Conference (ICDC), which is on April 26th in Orlando, Florida. Over twenty Niles North students qualified, including North Star News’ own Sam Dababneh, who shared the following about his experience.
How did you feel going into State?
“Going into State, I was pretty confident—I knew that I had a good project and that I worked really hard on it. But I’d been there before, and I knew that there was a good chance I wouldn’t make it to Nationals. I was nervous.”
How did it feel when you were announced #1 in your section?
“You can’t be fully prepared for it until it happens. I was mostly relieved, and a bit shocked—-it took me a second to actually walk up and collect my award.”
How are you feeling looking ahead to Nationals?
“I’m looking forward to Nationals. I’m going to refine my project, and try to make it on stage, which is rare. My brother did it, so I got a chip on my shoulder. Overall, I’m looking forward to having a good time in Orlando, and spending it with my friends and teammates.”
Here is the list of qualifiers: Ridha Anarwala, Sam Dababneh, Avery Ermel, Lindsey Garcia, Tabraik Hamid, Uruj Hazara, Faaria Hussain, Joanna Jacob, Jack Jaminski, Natalie Ng, Stacey Nguyen, Armana Rizvi, Grant Seitz, Nikolas Sikoral, Dea Vicheva, Chris Gavrilas.
