When junior Natalie Bandos was selecting her event for DECA this year, senior Molly Beyna approached her and suggested they pick an event and work together. Bandos agreed, although feeling skeptical at first. 

“I was really scared to work with a partner because I was scared that we were going to have a lot of conflicts,” Bandos said. “But there were a lot of moments when I was stuck and Molly came in and shared her own ideas [to help me].”

With both of their hard work, the pair ended up placing second in their chosen event, Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making, at the North Suburban Competition on Jan. 14. 

DECA, or, more formally, Distributive Education Clubs of America, is an organization that students can join to practice competing in many different business departments. The first thing the students do is take a test specific according to their chosen business cluster- business management and administration, hospitality and tourism, finance or marketing. 

From there, they choose an event and prepare for an upcoming competition. At the competition, students present a role play to one or more judges who are professionals in that business cluster. The students get a certain amount of time to get themselves ready beforehand, depending on if they are in a solo or team event. 

In Bandos’s case, she and her partner got 30 minutes to practice before their ten minute presentation before the judges. After that, the DECA participants conclude the day by attending an award ceremony where winners get announced. Those winners then qualify for the state-wide competition.

“It’s really nerve wracking but it’s really rewarding,” Bandos said. ““[My favorite part] is the anticipation.”

Bandos and Beyna prepared long before the actual competition date, however, and are planning on switching their event to marketing and management later this year. To practice, they met with their advisors and reviewed at the library on their own time. They plan to practice again and again before the state competition coming up in March. 

“What’s fun is you see them feed off of one another,” DECA advisor Chad Froeschle said. “Natalie has a different skill set than maybe Molly does. It’s fun to watch both of them develop and work collaboratively on each other’s strikes and weaknesses.”

Since Bandos started DECA during her sophomore year, she grew more confident in her ability to present herself, not only in front of the judges, but overall in public. 

  “I definitely improved my communication skills because [DECA] has helped me talk more freely and not be as nervous,” Bandos said. 

The previous year, Bandos participated in an individual event, called principals of management and marketing communications. All first years are required to do a principals event.

Even as a first year, participants are able to qualify for state and national competitions. Sophomore Maddy Layne qualified for state this year in principals of business management and administration. 

“I was very very surprised because being a first year it was a new experience and I wasn’t really confident because anything could happen,” Layne said. 

Layne joined DECA because many of her friends had done it previously, and she wanted to see what it was about. She chose to compete in an individual event. 

“The advantages [of working individually] are that you don’t have to deal with a gap in your workload,” Layne said. “You don’t have to distribute the work to anyone else in your group.”

Leading up to her first competition, Layne studied with the online resources on the official DECA website. To prepare for state, she plans on practicing with as many people as she can in order to get different perspectives on her presentation. 

“It’s fun watching students grow through the DECA competitions,” Freoschle said. “They’re preparing for [business] in the real world.”

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