Dawn Parks
The DECA club poses at the MCEC convention
The Athens Drive Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) club found success at the Marketing Competitive Events Conference (MCEC) event this year. Held in Raleigh, the event brings together the local DECA chapters each fall.
“[DECA] focus[es] on becoming business leaders by learning how to handle various business and marketing situations,” said Dawn Parks, the sponsor of the Athens Drive chapter.
The MCEC event, which took place Nov. 29, is held every fall for the local DECA chapters. The members entered events that asked them to answer questions in front of a judge in a roleplay that mimicked an interview situation.
Two weeks before an event, DECA members take a written exam, worth 100 points. This test is used as a tiebreaker if two students happen to get the same score on the roleplay. In the roleplay portion, judges give up to 100 points. However, the scores are multiplied by two for a overall highest score of 300. If students score a 210 overall, they are considered proficient.
The Athens Drive DECA members that scored a minimum of 210 are Amire Barkat, Queen Merck, Milin Santizo-Escobar, Josefina Vasquez-Jimenez, Jaden Abrams, Christopher Green and Ribhi Tresh.
The DECA club is fairly new to Athens, with this year only being its second. Furthermore, they have only fourteen members, whereas many of the other chapters at the event had over three hundred.
“We’re all really tight knit … we all know and care about each other,” said Jaden Abrams, sophomore.
Abrams won the highest test score in his roleplay group, and received a medal for his efforts.
“It really helps you to focus on how the economy works, how to go into an interview for large companies, and it helps you to understand the difference between types of companies,” said Queen Merck, freshman.