DECA takes home 4 first place wins

Hannah Roethler/Staff Writer

The 2012 DECA districts competition was held at the College Square Mall on Thursday, January 19. The group won three out of their eight competitions, along with several second and third place finishes and honorable mentions.

DECA is a business-oriented group that meets on Thursday mornings and competes in conferences throughout the year, such as the fall leadership conference, Districts, State and potentially Nationals.

To prepare the group, advisor Ryan Flaherty stresses the importance of work outside of school hours. “We have meetings to talk about how the competition will go, but most preparation is done outside of school on their own time,” Flaherty said.

As one of the stronger chapters in the state, State President of DECA, senior Ben Challgren, worked together with his younger sister, sophomore Jane Challgren, on the Sports and Entertainment event, bringing home a first place. Sophomore Samatha Schildroth and junior Natalie Rokes were also awarded a first place win in their event, Team Travel. Patrick Sesker and Colby Creger both won their individual events as well.

Although doubtful of himself, Creger had fun at Districts overall. “I thought Districts went very well for Cedar Falls DECA as a whole. Personally, I thought I did really bad and was really surprised that I got first in my category of Business Management,” Creger said.

All participants of DECA would agree that it provides a fun way to gain insight into the real business world. “I chose DECA because I want to own a business with my brothers when I’m older,” Jane Challgren said. Similar to Challgren, senior Lauren Bannon uses DECA to help her prepare for college. “I stayed in DECA because it’s fun and I want to major in business in college, so it’s good practice of what to expect in the real world. DECA’s taught me a lot about business and helped me decide that I do want to do something with business in the future,” she said.

The event is normally hosted at Hawkeye Community College; this year a change of venue left DECA members with mixed opinions. Bannon said, “It was nice changing up the location of Districts, but I think overall I like it better out at Hawkeye. It was kind of loud and a little cramped at the mall, but still enjoyable.”

Other participants enjoyed the more relaxed environment of the mall. “I thought having Districts in the mall was cool because we got to enjoy some pizza during break, and we also got to go to Scheels and other stores during down time,” senior Colby Creger said.