Growth.
Attending a DECA leadership conference is a special experience brimming with opportunities to improve a school’s chapter. Participants have the chance to attend workshops, make connections with other schools, and participate in powerful keynote sessions led by district leaders, all aimed at refining leadership and entrepreneurial skills to better the competing season. The 2024 DECA season is going to be one like no other as all the officers were able to learn and establish new goals to help all the members prosper.
DECA allows for a huge variety of events that has at least one thing a student can be interested in. At the conference, advice and guidance were given to all the officers to help all members succeed.
“I learned how to be a better leader for my chapter by listening to experts in specific fields of DECA,” senior Melissa Guerrero said. “I specifically learned how to improve my chances at winning the virtual DECA Stock Market Game and study tips for the Cluster exam for competition.”
Additionally, not only did the leadership conference allow for help for the overall clubs, but also some tips to help all the officers improve their skills.
“I learned my leadership style as well as how to apply to be a state officer,” junior Zoe Mendes said. “Yes, it helped to put things into perspective how important our roles are as officers.”
Not only did the conference give out information throughout the entire meeting, but there were some fun activities throughout the day.
“My favorite part was the ice breakers getting to meet new people,” senior Lillianna Weeks.
DECA combines both competition and community service to better students and their peers to help make the world a better place.
“My favorite part of the conference was creating Birthday Bash Boxes for kids around our district who don’t have a way to celebrate their birthdays,” Guerrero said. “All the chapters donated items and brought them to the conference and we created assembly lines to create the boxes. It was so rewarding to see all the effort from our members at our school contribute to a larger project and so many boxes were created.”
Improvements for the chapter are being set into place as connections with other schools allow for new ideas to be exchanged and being able to have more opportunities overall.
“We got to talk to the presidents of other chapters such as The Woodlands, Conroe, and Cyfair; we got to discuss ideas to help our chapters gain leadership skills and grow in their competition readiness,” Guerrero said. “These skills affect the overall character of our members as they include encouragement to become ethical leaders and contributing members of our community. I definitely know the conference was beneficial not only to our chapter officers but to our Willis DECA chapter and our school as well.”
