DECA dominated their annual State Conference, and 38 of the 114 members that competed on March 9-11 qualified for the DECA International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in April, which will be held in Anaheim, California.

According to DECA advisor Patricia Riley, DECA had a finalist in nearly every category they competed in.

“This is the most kids we’ve had qualify for ICDC since I’ve been involved,” Riley said.

Chapter president and junior Jake DeMarco was thrilled with how well DECA performed.

“We had about thirty or so people place, which is huge for us, and then we have eleven people going for this spot called leadership,” DeMarco said.

According to Riley, members prepared for this competition both in school and on their own.

“We plan a lot of practice tests and role-plays, and we teach them how to do the role-plays,” Riley said. “We teach them the skills that they need to be successful in the role-plays, but the kids have to do a lot on their own.”

DeMarco and other officers help proctor tests and judge role-plays.

“We host a variety of workshops, and they’re all tailored to different things, so sometimes we’ll focus on testing; sometimes we’ll focus on role-playing,” DeMarco said.

Graphic Carey Davis

Now that States is over, DECA is focusing on preparing the members for ICDC. Besides maintaining the same categories, ICDC offers the unique aspect of being on an international level, and the club needs to work even harder to do well.

“We are trying to figure out some different things so they can be better because States is difficult, but ICDC is even harder,” Riley said.

In addition to its higher level of difficulty, ICDC also raises the issue of funding. One of DECA’s current focal points is raising money so all the students that qualified can attend. The cost to attend ICDC is around $1,700, but there are many perks, such as staying in a Disneyland resort and spending a day at the beach.

“I would say our main focus right now, because we only have a month, is fundraising,” DeMarco said.

According to the vice president of fundraising, Nick Francalancia, DECA plans on hosting bake sales and obtaining corporate sponsorships to raise the money necessary.

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“We are currently in the brainstorming process of fundraising [for ICDC],” Francalancia said.

Freshman Paul Probst was pleasantly surprised by his performance and the success of the school overall.

“I think we did really well; we were one of the top schools in the state for DECA,” Probst said. “I was surprised when I got top five and made it to ICDC.”

Francalancia hopes that more people will feel encouraged to join DECA in the future.

“I really want all of the Algonquin community to try out DECA because… it can be a life-changing experience for you,” Francalancia said.