Months of preparation have been leading up to this. Dressed in their most professional clothes, suit ironed and shoes shined, White Station High School (WSHS) students compete against students from across the globe. The clock is ticking as they have only 10 minutes to create a marketing presentation that will save a fictional company and win the glass trophy.
Formerly called Distributive Education Clubs of America, DECA is a competition for high school and college students to develop skills in marketing, finance, and hospitality and management. Students show their classroom knowledge on a written test, then put it into practice in front of a panel of judges.
“DECA is a competitive business organization,” marketing teacher Andrew Bell said. “So it’s just a way for kids to compete against other kids across the district and then the state and then the nation. And they compete by doing roleplays, solving business problems, making presentations and taking a written multiple-choice test. And it’s basically to learn best business practices, do a little networking and just understand how the business environment works.”
WSHS students in Bell’s Marketing Management course are eligible to join DECA, and about one-third of them do. In Marketing Management, students learn about various marketing strategies that businesses use. DECA allows students to apply the strategies they learn in Bell’s class to fictional businesses and, in doing so, develop their public speaking abilities.
“One [roleplay] I did when I went to state [was] … I was … a sales manager for a cleaning company, and my job was to build clientele because the cleaning company had a lot of customers after COVID because everybody wanted their office supplies cleaned, … but after [the pandemic ended, business] started to go downhill,” Macey Robinson (12) said. “So it’s my job to see how I could make a plan to build more clientele [and] increase the customer satisfaction. And so you read the role play, and you have 10 minutes to write down what you want to say, and then you also have 10 minutes to present to the judge.”
After spending the year preparing in and outside of class, students travel to Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, for the district competition. If they are successful, they can then move on to the Tennessee state career development conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. And finally, top performers head to the DECA international career development conference, with the next one being held in April of 2026 in Atlanta, GA. For some students, especially first-time competitors, competing can be stressful, but for others, DECA is a welcoming space full of people with common interests.
“I think the energy is so high, ’cause … you’re in this place with a bunch of different people, [who] have the same interest as you,” Robinson said. “You’re meeting new people, and there’s so many people that are there to take the stress away, and they’re telling you that they’ve done this before, or maybe this is their first time. So everybody’s offering advice and making sure you’re comfortable in the space.”
For Bell, the work of preparing for DECA is done before students leave for the competition. After months of training the students in class, Bell transitions to acting as a chaperone and assistant at competitions. While students are competing, Bell has his own tasks, as teachers must handle logistical matters for DECA members and offer support to students.
“As a teacher, you’re … on call most of that time, like it’s not a vacation,” Bell said. “You have to make sure that the kids … are where they need to be, or can get to where they need to be. Teachers aren’t supposed to judge, but we help run … the competition, you know, timing and … running documents back and forth, just making sure it runs smoothly. It’s a little stressful, especially when you first get started … but once you get into the rhythm, it’s pretty easy.”
DECA allows students to improve the skills they might use in a marketing career while also developing skills that could apply to any career. Furthermore, as a gathering place for those interested in business, DECA offers students the opportunity to network with peers and adults who may currently or one day be working in marketing or business. If students succeed in their competitions, they can win awards and an internationally recognized trophy. WSHS students often excel at DECA competitions, making it all the way to the international competition.
“If you’re interested in becoming a better presenter, and becoming better at critically thinking, and being able to problem solve, and being able to be a little entertaining and being able to write … then I think being part of DECA would be a really good thing for you,” Bell said. “This is my 11th year teaching, and in 11 years I’ve had national [competitors] 10 times. And one year, I did actually have a student place at nationals in the top 10.”
While DECA is a way to further a student’s career, it can also bring other benefits. Exploring new cities, spending time with friends and meeting people from across the globe with the same interests are all possibilities at an international competition such as DECA.
“I had the opportunity to go with other students and explore Chattanooga,” Robinson said. “I made some new friends, and we went to [this] strip [mall], so we went to a few little shops. \ [Joining DECA], you get to make new friends. There’s still people from [the] state [competition] that I follow on Instagram, that I’m seeing them graduate, and I’m seeing them go to college and do what they wanted to do at DECA, so … you definitely get to build new relationships for sure.”