Source: DECA Direct
DECA: an early start or an early burnout?
DECA and similar organizations offer invaluable lessons, opportunities, and experiences for students interested in business, entrepreneurship, and related fields. How do students get involved? And should we be worried about the long-term repercussions of such organizations on our overworked, burnt-out youth?
It’s never too early to start thinking about your career.
That’s what the Distributive Education Clubs of America, also known as DECA, teaches high school students.
According to Crimson Education, DECA is a “nonprofit student organization focused on preparing emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.” DECA offers a series of comprehensive services and opportunities for students, including instructional materials, local and national conferences and competitions, awards, scholarships, access to networks of industry professionals, and support for career development. Their goal can be summarized as the following: “DECA aims to prepare young people for better success in college admissions, in business degree programs, and in careers by offering a range of engaging activities and opportunities, primarily as extracurriculars, but also in the form of classroom curriculum.”
That’s a lot to take in. How exactly does DECA work?
The DECA learning program can be split into four major components: integrating into classroom instruction, offering project-based activities, partnering with businesses, and promoting competition.
First, DECA works directly with approved teacher advisors at the chapter-level. DECA provides their Comprehensive Learning Program, and chapter advisors “select and implement the programs that best align with their courses and curriculum.” This methodology allows individual schools to customize the DECA learning program for their students’ specific educational needs.
Next, DECA provides project-based activities for students to apply what they’ve learned through the Comprehensive Learning Program.
To further help students turn their learning into action, DECA connects students to their various business partners both locally and abroad. This gives students crucial exposure to different industries, and helps them start building their professional networks.
Finally, the highlight of DECA for many members is their day-long competitive events, which allow students to put the skills that they gained from DECA’s learning program to the test. These competitions occur at both the local and national level, and include written tests and role-playing scenarios which culminate with presentations to a panel of judges. As Crimson Education writes, DECA’s “role-plays, case studies, and online simulations … simulate business challenges and require [students] to apply real-life business and leadership skills.” Beyond these competitions, DECA also holds many educational conferences, such as leadership, career pathway, and career development conferences.
It’s incredibly easy to get involved with DECA. Students simply need to get in contact with their nearest DECA chapter or, if their school or community isn’t connected to DECA, they can start their own chapter. As outlined on DECA’s website, DECA chapters require a minimum of ten student members and one approved advisor, who must all pay membership fees of about $8 USD. After obtaining approval from one’s school and the regional chartered association of DECA that governs their geographical area, the prospective group can officially request to start a DECA chapter and enter their membership roster.
For nearly a century, DECA has had a significant impact on schools in North America and abroad. According to their website, DECA currently has about 4100 high school chapters with approximately 286,000 high school members. College-aged students can also get involved with DECA, and there are currently 4700 collegiate members across 203 collegiate chapters. Ontario’s DECA association alone has 15,000 members and 392 advisors across 241 chapters. DECA members generally go on to major in business, marketing, or entrepreneurship, but some more famous and recognizable DECA alumni include actress Courtney Cox who played Monica Geller on Friends, and talk show host Jay Leno.
Source: People
I personally never participated in DECA while in high school, but I can certainly see the appeal. I took part in both Model UN and JOT Case Competitions in school, which are also student organizations dedicated to fostering skills in students through competition, and I found the experiences to be incredibly rewarding. Competitions are a great way to engage students, take them out of their comfort zone, and build important interpersonal skills such as leadership and teamwork. DECA seems much more comprehensive than any club that I was a part of in high school, and I can see how being a DECA member would give students a massive head start in terms of their university applications and career development. Having extracurricular experience is essential for any application, academic or professional, as it speaks to a person’s drive and openness to new experiences. Plus, I believe that getting involved in one’s community outside of academics is rewarding on a personal level.
DECA specifically would be an extremely worthwhile endeavor for any high school students looking to pursue a career in business. Networking, case competitions, and public speaking are the bread and butter of business. As a third-year Rotman Commerce student at the University of Toronto, I still frequently feel that my networking and case competition skills are lacking. If I could turn back the clock, I would gladly have joined a DECA chapter in high school and started making professional connections and building skills while I was younger and not burdened by the pressures of university life and academics.
With that being said, however, a pessimistic part of me also worries that high schoolers and young people have too much pressure being put on them today. I recently spoke to some international students in their final year of high school who are overwhelmed by university applications, and already burnt out from their A-level exams. It’s not enough to have good marks; students also need to have extracurriculars and inspiring stories to share in their university essays. Programs such as DECA contribute to this feeling that just academics alone aren’t enough, and students need something else to set them apart. And then, even after they get into university, the job search begins and students will continue to feel as though they are behind their peers. Shontia Sanders from The Varsity wrote a very engaging article discussing this “LinkedIn-ification” of the university experience, in which “the ever-growing emphasis on premature professionalization at the expense of genuine self-expression prevents us from forging meaningful connections and representing our true selves when we engage in academic and professional opportunities.” I highly recommend giving this article a read.
At the end of the day, this push towards academic “LinkedIn-ification” is not DECA’s fault. In an increasingly competitive academic and professional world, DECA gives its members a leg up on the competition by preparing them for their careers and helping them develop crucial skills for the workforce and beyond. More than anything, studying for and participating in DECA competitions teaches students to work towards a personal goal, which will help them in life even if they never pursue a career in business. It is equally true, though, that high school students are under a lot of pressure, and it’s okay if they don’t spend every waking moment of their young lives working towards their professional careers. Sometimes kids should just be allowed to be kids. And just because someone didn’t participate in any extracurriculars in high school doesn’t mean that they are doomed professionally. University has plenty of opportunities for students to get involved with clubs and their community (like, for instance, writing for Business Tomorrow!). Plenty of late bloomers find incredible success.
So, the moral of this story is that, while it’s never too early to start thinking about your career or build your professional network, it’s also never too late.
Notes
● Article is written as of Jan 17, 2025, and all figures/info are accurate as of that date
Photo Sources
DECA Direct: https://www.decadirect.org/articles/deca-is-for-all
2024