Three Colorado State University Distributive Education Clubs of America members finalized in the DECA International Career Development Conference competition in Baltimore. One student received top 20, while the other got top 10 and the last finalist got first place in his category. 

So, what is DECA? DECA is a business club that prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management, as well as entrepreneurship, and many others. 

Opposed to what many people might think, DECA is not just for business majors or people interested in business. The winner of this year’s entrepreneurship operations category was an engineering major who is a CSU student in our DECA chapter. 

Nick Shipe got first place in the category of entrepreneurship operations, Jennifer Tran got top 10 in corporate finance, and I got top 20 in the category of marketing management. 

This year was a great year for CSU’s DECA chapter with 3 of our members (half the club) finalizing in their respective categories.  

The experience of going to an international competition was like no other. 

Having to present an idea to an expert judge, who has heard similar ideas from the dozens of people that presented before me, is terrifying but at the same time it’s an amazing experience. 

Although I didn’t walk away from that competition with immense new knowledge of marketing or business, I got something that is just as good. I got an experience of presenting to multiple knowledgeable judges and finalizing in my first year of doing DECA which gave me the motivation to finish this year strong.

This was motivation that I very much need as burnout is hitting and finals are getting closer and closer.