DECA is an extracurricular activity that Owatonna High School offers that helps prepare students for marketing, finance, hospitality and management for their future careers. DECA Regionals were on Friday, Jan. 10. The OHS DECA team contains just short of 100 members at 92 OHS students.  

In DECA, there are two ways to compete, one being individual and another being team. When competing at regionals, there are four types of individual events. There are four different areas to compete including: Principles of Business Management and Administration, Principles of Finance, Principles of Hospitality and Tourism, and Principles of Marketing.  In the individual events, the guidelines are with a given situation, and you’re given 10 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to interview with the judge. Unlike the individual events, the team events have a 30 minute preparation time and 15 minutes to interview with a judge. Head director Scott Pierce said, “DECA Districts went well, we sent 51 of 92 to DECA State.”

Another main part includes the DECA test. This test is a test score that is added to your score on your role play event that happens at regionals. Senior president Emma Loveless said, “My favorite thing about DECA is working with my partner for our team event, we bounce different ideas off each other and practice thinking on our feet.”

The next time the OHS DECA team will be competing at state which is on Mar. 1-3. Students interested in joining DECA should talk to any of the officers or Mr. Pierce or  Mr. Matt Olson.