Out of 40 competitors, 27 members of McNeil’s DECA chapter advanced to state after participating at district competition at Round Rock High School Jan. 23.

“I am ecstatic to be advancing to state,” senior Eleanor Wakou said. “But to be honest, kind of surprised as well due to the competitive nature of the event. But seeing my name on the screen definitely motivated me to work harder for the state competition.”

DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management for college and careers. While it is a club geared towards the business field, the public speaking and personal skills gained through the club can be applied towards any aspect of life.

Senior Minha Ghani has been involved in DECA for four years.

“Through DECA, I have gained is self confidence and leadership opportunities,” Ghani said. “Being around people who possess great leadership qualities has encouraged me to build my self esteem and become someone who is enabled to lead others.”

The high school level competitive events are separated by career cluster: Business Management and Administration, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Finance, and Hospitality and Tourism. Each cluster has individual and team decision-making events. Some events are role plays, requiring participants to improvise in front of a judge, while others are prepared presentations. Other than the actual judged event, an online test for some events is mandatory to assess the participants’ knowledge about business.

To prepare for competition, DECA sponsor Vera Cruz hosted weekly drills to allow students to practice. This year, the new contract system at McNeil required competitors to take at least a minimum number of three exams and to attend a certain number of drills to compete. But other than the mandatory number of drills, students also needed to put in effort themselves outside of school to practice.

“To prepare for our event, my team and I interviewed the owner of the company we were creating an advertising campaign for and researched about various mediums of advertising and current market trends and more,” Ghani said. “With the research we did, we wrote an advertising campaign proposal. For our actual presentation, we put together a display board that would enhance certain aspects of our presentation. We then planned out our oral presentation and practiced non stop.”

Ghani’s group will take their advertising campaign to state competition in San Antonio February 25- 27.

“After district competition, our judges provided us with a bunch of feedback and suggestions,” Ghani said. “We hope to incorporate these adjustments while also adding in some new ideas and modifying existing ideas. We will also study more for our tests by taking practice tests and also reviewing vocabulary.”