The Bridgewater-Raritan High School DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) club attended the Districts Conference held at Kean University on January 10.
DECA is a new club at Bridgewater-Raritan High School that provides education and competitive events testing students’ knowledge on various business topics such as marketing, management, finance, hospitality, tourism and more.
There was a total of 57 participants competing in 30 events at the college that is located in Union.
The; students had the option to participate either in solo or team events. There were around 2,000 high school students across the states attending the district conference.
The solo events were mainly objective tests, consisting of around one hundred multiple-choice questions and taken a month in advance of the conference. Team events, on the other hand, consisted of presentations or the proposal of new business ideas. All fifty-seven students were required to dress up in Western business attire and were given an excused absence for this field trip.
At the conference, all attending participants were ordered to act in three roleplays each. A DECA roleplay is a business simulation where students are given a scenario to solve, showcasing their ability to think critically and apply business concepts. The purpose of doing these roleplays is for the students to demonstrate their understanding of business practices and communication skills. At the end of the conference, awards were given out to those who had performed well on the objective tests taken a month earlier.
Here are the following placements from Bridgewater-Raritan:
| Event Name: | Placement(s): | Student Name: |
| Account Applications Series | 1, 8, 10 | Andrew Zagula, Sophia Liu, Anay Sharma |
| Apparel & Accessories Marketing Series | 4 | Gayatri Krishnan |
| Business Finance Series | 2, 5, 6 | Devin Patel, Darsh Bajpai, Rishi Khanna |
| Business Services Marketing Series | 6 | Sanvi Parikh |
| Human Resources Management Series | 1, 6, 10 | Harshith Nemani, Ciara Decarlo, Satwika Chakkilam |
| Principles of Business Management & Administration | 3, 5, 11 | Sofia Matthew, Charles Wang, Advika Prakash |
| Principles of Entrepreneurship | 1, 11 | Manas Gumedelli, Darsh Gaur |
| Principles of Finance | 5, 6 | Neel Wakde, Aarav Gupta |
| Principles of Hospitality and Tourism | 2 | Mohnish Gumedelli |
| Principles of Marketing | 2, 9 | Ohmal Suresh, Rishabh Gupta |
| Professional Selling | 7 | Roma Gupta |
| Retail Merchandising | 5 | Luvyakrish Manche |
Junior Arav Kewalia spoke on his experience at the competition.
“The event was really fun and educational, and it was great taking part in the role-plays! I definitely will do this again next year,” he said.
Students who place at the Districts Conference automatically qualify for the States Conference. The DECA State Conference will be held at Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center in Atlantic City from March 4 through 6.
