By yashitha chunduru, State President
Coppell High School
No three words describe the 2023-2024 DECA year better than “Experience the difference.” From serving as a District Vice President to running for State Office, this past year has been an absolute roller coaster of an experience!
As a District Officer...
As one of the District 11 Vice Presidents, I had a huge role in a lot of the district-wide events that we hosted. We had our Fall Leadership Conference in October and had to plan what information we would present to chapter officers and in what manner we would present that information. At FLC we also got to kick off our district community service project. After months of planning and promoting the professional clothing drive, we were able to collect over six hundred pieces of professional clothing including blazers, belts, slacks, shirts, and shoes.
A couple of weeks later, D11 hosted its first Mock DECA Competition in years. Not only did we offer insightful feedback through competition, but we also distributed the professional clothes we collected to ensure that the students in D11 would have clothes to compete in at District CDC. These clothes would go on to help with interviews, internships, and jobs.
A few weeks later, we had a Feed My Starving Children Volunteer Day where different chapters joined the D11 Officer team throughout the day to package meals for kids in need. We ended up helping a total of one hundred eighty-seven kids for a year. This was a great team bonding activity and we had an amazing day filled with fun competition and helping others!
In January, District CDC came despite snowy days and somewhat iced-up roads. Between competing, running for District Office a second time, and helping run the conference smoothly, there wasn’t a lot of free time. However, I still enjoyed seeing so many faces in person after a year of PCMs!
As a Competitor...
Alongside planning events and community service projects, the grind of preparing for my competitive event began. This year, I competed in Business Services Marketing, which is an individual series role-play event. Most of October and November was spent taking practice tests, looking through marketing related vocabulary, and looking through explanations on answer keys.
After taking my Marketing Cluster Exam, I had a little over a month to practice pole plays and look through different performance indicators. I practiced with different family members and with a couple of my friends that I practiced with the last couple of years. At District, I was announced as a state qualifier which meant that I had about two weeks to continue studying for testing. The state exam is considered to be harder than the district exam which meant that the two weeks were spent doing as many old exams as possible.
After testing, I had about two weeks to practice my role plays once again and make them ICDC qualifier-worthy. At State CDC in February, I competed alongside other Texas DECA members and was announced as an ICDC Qualifier. From after State CDC right up to ICDC, I mostly worked on studying for the exam. I knew testing was where I was weaker, so that’s where I ended up putting most of my focus. I did more role play prep once we entered April.
At ICDC, I tested and did my two preliminary role plays. On the morning of the Achievement Awards Ceremony, I waited nervously to hear whether I would get to compete again as a Top 20 Finalist for my event. When they announced the blue ribbon medallion winners for BSM, my name was called and I got to compete once again!
Unfortunately, I didn’t win a glass or be announced as a top-ten winner, but I learned a lot through competing as a finalist, and I hope I get farther in the 2024-2025 DECA year!
As a State Officer...
After campaigning, being interviewed, being tested, and running alongside nineteen other candidates, Texas DECA’s Team 79 State Officers were announced at the awards session on the last day of State CDC. I was elected President, and my term pretty much kicked off from there.
Our first conference was the Texas Leadership Summit, where the District Officers were teamed up. This took place at the Kalahari Resort, and there were many fun icebreakers we did to get to know each other. I loved seeing the rest of my team in person and finally getting a chance to meet some of the new District Officers!
A month after TLS came ICDC in Anaheim, California. At ICDC, I loved trading pins and meeting members from across the world! I also enjoyed networking with other state officers at the Parade of Flags and the State Officer Luncheon.
As a State Officer, I helped with registration and attended different voting delegate sessions when I wasn’t busy competing. I got to sit in caucuses with the executive officer candidates and talk to them at the meet and greet!
The 2023-2024 DECA year was incredible for me and I hope it was for you as well! I can’t wait to see all of Texas DECA’s accomplishments and the memories made in the 2024-2025 DECA year!