Seven out of the 16 Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) students are advancing to the state competition, which will take place in Dallas from Thursday, Feb. 21 to Saturday, Feb. 23. DECA adviser Valerie Cooper wishes her students learn from this experience and apply it to their futures.

“I hope the students [take] advantage of this opportunity, networking with all the future business leaders that attend these conferences,” Cooper said. “For my seniors, I hope [this] experience [will] help them determine their next steps. I [expect] they [will] do their best. They’re going to represent Farmer pride while they’re there [and] they’re going to do great.”

Since joining DECA, Cooper believes the students have increased in their professionalism and confidence. With knowledge of how businesses work when it comes to financial literacy, marketing management and financial consulting, DECA furthered their knowledge by pushing them to expand to their true potentials.

“The students we have are already business savvy; they’ve been in a business or marketing class as well,” Cooper said. “So they have this instilled inside of them, all I do is encourage them to give it their best [and] tell them ‘You’ve got this, you’ve got to believe you got this.’”

Although senior Wesley Brewer thinks he’s already improved in terms of talking to other people and presenting his ideas to an audience, he still wishes to continue practicing with tests to receive higher scores and improve on his public speaking.

“My biggest improvement since being in DECA has probably been the role-playing [because it] has helped [me] a lot with the interview process,” Brewer said. “[It’s also helped] a lot [with] meeting new people, trying to figure out how to talk to people and how to present myself in a professional manner.”

Since growing closer to other members from DECA, senior Sloan Ibanez began practicing for competitions with senior Khloe Hall in coffee shops by doing quizlets and rehearsing in front of fake judges. Ibanez also did her own research by finding past prompts to practice with.

“A week before the competition, you take an online test [and] then you go to the competition and you present your business model or challenge in front of the judges,” Ibanez said. “At the end of [the] competition, you find out if you pass the test and the judges portion; then, you can move on to state or nationals.”

Although it may seem tedious to take multiple tests a week, it is a task multiple DECA students engage in to prepare for competitions. This helps them gain a broader understanding of the topics that may come up during an interview or on the actual test.

“I prepare by taking a lot of practice tests and doing personal role-plays,” Brewer said. “Mrs. Cooper [has] been a big help with that [because] she’ll give me a topic [and] I’ll get 10 minutes to prepare [then] I’ll present it to her.”

DECA has not only helped students connect themselves to business professionals in the business industry but they’ve learned how to carry themselves in a professional and confident manner as well as learn other important life skills to prepare them for future competitions.

“Classes like DECA are important [because] they teach public speaking, how to get out into the world [and] how to start [a] business,” senior Asyah Jiron said.