DECA students deck the competition
Senior Carleigh Gingery, a member of DECA, operates the book store counter.
February 2, 2010 • written by Jessica Ferrell
Filed under News
They did it again! Forty-two students from the Bartlett High School chapter of DECA, An Association of Marketing Students, will be competing at the state level of the annual DECA competition.
Whether it was writing extensive research papers or participating in role plays, students from both Shelby County Schools and Memphis City Schools competed in an all-day competition Jan. 21 at Hope Presbyterian Church.
According to marketing teacher Cathy Bishop, students in her classes have been practicing and preparing for this event for the past nine weeks.
Students involved in writing the research papers had to choose a topic, conduct elaborate research, and write a paper. On the other hand, students who competed in the business decision making role play categories chose a topic and had to compete impromptu.
“My category was Travel and Tourism. It was one of the most difficult role plays,” senior Kirby Elliott said. “We [Elliott and senior Josh Bay] had to convince our judge that they need to change their prices of their point systems because of the decrease in ‘our’ loyal customers.”
Although the role play competition was all based on previous knowledge, students who competed in role plays were allowed time to look over their topics and prepare for their questions.
“We went into a room and reviewed our role play for 30 minutes. In that time, we wrote down notes and prepared to talk to the judge,” Elliott said. “We had 7 minutes to present our ideas, and then the judge asked us 5 questions.”
Though the work seems tedious in addition to normal schoolwork, senior Taylor Morton, who competed alongside senior Matt Mitchell, disagrees.
“It was easy. I mean, you had to put time into it, but it was fun,” Morton said. “It’s not like we were forced to do it. We chose to do it. So, it was easy to be motivated. Mrs. Bishop gave us practice packets to look over so we knew what to expect.”
Competing in the sports and entertainment category, Morton and Mitchell were asked questions involving a situation in which “their” NFL team was caught filming another team illegally. After “fans” lost respect for Morton and Mitchell, they had to create a way to “gain their support back.”
“There was another group in the same room with us, and each group had 30 minutes to get our material together,” Morton said. “Whenever we were ready, we presented, but we couldn’t watch other groups prior to us.”
After a long day including a lunch and an awards ceremony, the results were released, and 42 of the 56 students who competed for Bartlett made it to the state level.
The state competition will be held on March 6-8 in Franklin, TN. After competing against schools from across the state, those who won will have the opportunity to compete on a national level in Louisville, KY.
Bishop is confident that the majority of her students will make it to the national level. Last year, five students made it to nationals, but with this year’s group being the largest in Bartlett’s history, the chances are even greater.
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