White Station’s DECA chapter traveled to Chattanooga, TN on March 5 to compete at the State Career Development Conference (SCDC). The three days spent there were filled with presentations of written events, roleplays, award shows and networking. 

On Thursday evening, March 5, seniors who had been working on a written event all year presented their projects in front of judges, following the opening ceremony that also took place that night. 

“My category is International Business Plan, so my team had to come up with a business to start in another country besides the United States. We came up with a popsicle business in the Philippines,” Neha Larson (12) said. “We prepared five different boards discussing our products, customers and finances. We presented in front of a judge for about 15 minutes, sort of like Shark Tank.” 

Although seniors were technically finished competing, juniors and sophomores had to perform their roleplays on March 6. Either as individuals or in teams of two, each person is given a scenario and a certain amount of time to prepare beforehand. 

“I competed in Financial Services Team Decision Making. I took an exam first and then worked with my partner to create a financial plan to mitigate credit card fraud and identity theft for a bank,” Nathan Miskell (11), who finished in the top eight, said. “Overall, I think it went well.”

Competitors learned on Saturday, March 7 whether or not they qualified for DECA’s International Career Development Conference (ICDC), which will take place in Nashville, TN. Typically the top four or five competitors from each category qualify for ICDC in Tennessee. A complete list of this is linked here.