This month, Lasell’s DECA chapter took home multiple awards at their first ICDC (International Career Development Conference) collegiate conference in Baltimore, Maryland.
Out of 900 competitors, everyone placed top 20 in their respective categories. Junior accounting major Victoria Savluk, junior accounting and fashion merchandising and marketing major Kim Nguyen, sophomore marketing and entrepreneurship major Maeghan Csongor, and sophomore event management major Jillian Nangle all placed in the top ten. Nangle and Csongor placed third in their categories.
Other notable students include sophomore business management major Charles Anderson, first-year fashion merchandising and management major Spencer Villinski, and first-year business management major Bianca Almeida.
Nangle, who is the Vice President of Education, meaning they are in charge of preparing everyone, talks about the process of getting ready for an event as big as this one. “A lot of times it’s doing practice tests and the DECA website has practice role plays. Essentially what DECA is is you walk in and do a role play in front of a judge that mimics a real life scenario.” Nangle competes in travel and tourism. So, she got a case study pertaining to this category then had to propose a solution to the judges. Depending on the category, some students get to prep beforehand while others walk in not knowing until a judge presents it to them.
DECA is a program for students starting in high school to create future job opportunities, networking possibilities, and a chance to develop your professional career even further. According to the association, “DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.” Going to the ICDC is no easy task, you must first qualify on a state level, which is regionals, before you get to the final event.
Lasell’s chapter has only seven students competing, whereas larger schools have many more, such as one unnamed team who had over 30 students. Anyone who is interested in joining DECA is free to do so, no testing or qualifying required! They meet every other Wednesday in the Donahue Center for Creative & Applied Arts conference room from 6 to 7 p.m.
For further information, you can email deca@lasell.edu, or check out their Instagram @laselldeca and direct message them there. Additionally, you can check out their content and find plenty of further information regarding what they do, fundraising events, and awards.
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