DECA club makes comeback

By: Sarah Stortz

Returning to the list of active clubs after being gone for a whole year, DECA has officially made a CFHS comeback .

DECA, which stands for The Distributive Education Club of America, is a marketing club run by business teachers Mark Aalderks and Julie Cuvelier that involves different areas of marketing, such as finance, business administration and accounting. The club originally disbanded last year due to the supervisor leaving early in the school year. However, it came back when Aalderks offered to take up a leadership to help advise the students.

“I came from a school that had a very strong DECA chapter, and I participated as an associate teacher,” Aalders said. “When I came here, I thought it would be fun to reactivate the program and get people excited about business again.”

DECA consists of 30 business-oriented students who meet together to work on their leadership skills in the business world. Since the Fall Leadership conference, students have started meeting every Thursday during power hour in order to prepare for Districts.

The club recently returned from the fall leadership conference in Des Moines that took place from Oct. 4 to Oct. 5 where DECA members from all the other chapters in Iowa met together and listened to a keynote speaker. Later on, the groups of students broke out into sessions where they could go to learn about what competitions they’re going into and how to prepare for them.

Sophomore Justin Gray was one of the 18 CFHS students who attended the conference last Monday. “The conference helped me  to see what a business conference would like,” Gray said. “It just kind  of opens the door for opportunities.” Gray joined DECA due to having an interest in a business career. “I enjoyed the conference and and finding more people who look forward to being in business.”

Aalderks also said he believes that the environment that DECA establishes can help students in the long run. “Having an organization that builds on the things that we teach is something that’s very good for the kids,” Aalderks said. “It gives you problems outside of the classroom, and you can pull on that knowledge.”

Now that they know what to expect from going to the conference, the students’ knowledge in business will be put to the ultimate test after they head off to Districts in three months.