The Student News Site of Malvern Preparatory School

Friar's Lantern

The Student News Site of Malvern Preparatory School

Friar's Lantern

The Student News Site of Malvern Preparatory School

Friar's Lantern

DECA – A New Club on Campus

DECA+-+A+New+Club+on+Campus

Students interested in business now have the opportunity to learn more in this newly-formed activity.

The new club on campus, DECA, creates an opportunity for those interested in the business world. The organization’s slogan is “Preparing emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.”

Juniors Charlie Fish and Patrick Murphy have created a new club that is actually a chapter in a larger organization called DECA. It is all about the business world and is expected to appeal to a lot of students here at Malvern.

“If you’re interested in business, marketing, or stuff like that… that’s really the kids we’re looking for. But, even if you’re interested in other areas or just simply like competing in events, this club is for you too.” Fish said.

For those asking what DECA actually stands for, the answer is that no one knows. Here is what Murphy had to say.

“We’ve had some debate [about the name] and it’s hard to find out what it means. We can’t find it,” Murphy said.

“It’s actually nowhere on their website,” moderator Mr. Kevin Moore added.

There is a wide range of activities the club partakes in.

“We will go and compete within our district—which has other schools locally—in business based competitions. There are over 60 different categories you can compete in. You can write essays, give a speech to a judge, etc.” said Fish.

DECA is also comparable to the Speech and Debate Club.

“I always compare it Speech and Debate… you go in front of a judge it’s you and a partner or you and a group and you present your business idea to them [based on a case study that is given to you]. [The case study] is something along the lines of a challenge facing your business that you have to solve.” Murphy said.

DECA’s most famous challenge/competition are their international video challenges.

“People from Spain compete, people from all around the world compete in these… and you create a video depending on the challenge in particular,” Murphy said.

Another challenge DECA has every year is the random object challenge.

“Each group has to make a business idea based on an object. For example, one year the object was rubber bands. They have to say who their target audience is, how they’re gonna finance the product, etc. This will all be in a video and presentation at the competition,” Murphy said.

Students have the opportunity to compete at these competitions in groups. However, there is a slight problem.

“The number of competitors is decided upon the number of members in your chapter,” says Moore.

The minimum to compete at certain competitions is 23 students but only groups of one can compete with this number. But Murphy and Fish want upwards of 53 so groups of three can become possible.

“I know a lot of people have joined expecting that they can compete in groups. During the activities fair there were groups of three show up together asking if they could compete together. I said ‘sure’. To fulfill this promise we need a certain amount of members,” said Murphy.

When it comes to expectations for new members, Murphy does not see time commitment as a huge problem with the club.

“We’re not looking for every single member to be 100% committed… we just want to see them submit [at least] one thing for us and go to one event,” Murphy said.

However, Moore points out that commitment and learning is important if doing well in these competitions is important to you and this would take time.

“It would require a decent amount of time to be successful with this… [this] would require an amount of time of coaching [and] learning concepts and materials, and preparing for competitions. Especially since Malvern doesn’t have direct classes relating to what the club does,” Moore said.

In the future the club is looking to potentially become a J-Term or full year class.

“There’s a very strong application for learning in this club. You’re going through learning certain content and then applying it to real world situations and I have a firm belief that this is what classes should look like as well,” Moore says.

Murphy, Fish, and Moore all have unique visions for the future.

Mr. Moore said that the class would entail “learning content surrounding… all the content that goes into the competition to gain a base understanding.”

“It would be a business class, Malvern doesn’t have many of those… so it would be a good opportunity,” Murphy said.

Fish mentioned that all of this is long term planning and visioning so this is something to look forward to.

For those interested in joining, go to the organization’s website, https://www.deca.org for more information or to email [email protected] or [email protected] to be added to the email list.

 

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

All Friar's Lantern Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *