The NHS DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) club had a very successful March as 24 members competed in the state competition.

In DECA young men and women learn valuable skills of the business and marketing world. Recently on March 6th Naugatuck High School’s DECA team, under the new guidance of Mrs. Ferrare, competed in  and placed multiple times in the state competition.

Naugatuck had 11 project teams compete and the majority affiliated their project with a business and studied their marketing strategy. All tasks range to fit any type of preference all the way from competing in an on the spot role play to providing a business solution extending all the way to a 30 page paper about their business plans.

“When in competition, you’re presenting to judges on stage, but when it’s in the real world, you’re actually presenting it to the business themselves,”  said DECA chapter president and States first place winner Alyssa Peterson.

Among the many that placed from Naugatuck, Katie Brown went in a different direction and created a business plan that would help a franchise thrive in her own town. Katie’s project placed second in her category. While students Bridget Rosikiewicz and Alyssa Peterson placed 1st in their category with the project they completed.

For those that placed at states it’s not over yet.  April 20-25 is the national competition in Georgia, where competitors will modify their mistakes and make their project worthy of being displayed in national competition.

When a Naugatuck DECA member commits to competing that’s not all they do. They must be contributing to events that better our school throughout the year while moving forward with their own project. It’s hard to balance your own school load like many of these honor roll students that take DECA are doing.

DECA does more for students than simply add another task to a student’s day. It increases their awareness of the community. Most if not all projects completed by DECA students are done on a local level, whether it be within the school or within the town.

“No teacher has really provided such a platform as DECA has for me,” said Naugatuck High School senior Brian Goggin.  

In so many words, students claim DECA has changed their lives, and helped them to realize who they want to be. DECA has pushed students limits and allowed a way of learning and doing work that other traditional classes just can’t match.