Tupelo High School’s Distributive Education Clubs of America, commonly known as DECA, continued Tupelo’s tradition of excellence by dominating district competition Jan. 16 at Itawamba Community College’s Belden campus.

DECA, taught by Brookes Prince, is an all-year class at THS. Students learn marketing, entrepreneurship, finance, hospitality and management skills.

“I hate interviews and speaking to people I don’t know, so DECA has really helped me out of my comfort zone and be able to communicate with people in the business world,” said Megan Ware, a THS senior.

Ware and 29 other DECA students tested these skills in the district competition.

At competitions, students complete a multiple choice portion and problem-solving case study. In a case study, students propose a solution to issues facing one of various industries, ranging from Food and Restaurant Management to Business and Law Ethics. Each case study is assigned one to three people, depending upon the category. If the case involves one person, he or she is given 10 minutes to solve the problem. If the case involves two to three people, they are given 30 minutes. A judge evaluates the students’ performance and asks them two to three questions about their case.

“Every person that competed made it in the top six to head to state in February, so I am very pleased with the results,” senior Anna John Hand said. “We had 13 first-place winners, so we were really excited.”

“It makes me excited about state,” said Neely Brown, THS senior and District III vice president of Mississippi DECA. “With all the first-place medals we got at district, it looks like a good chance we will have quite a few people going to internationals this year.”

DECA has affected students aside from simply adding another accomplishment on their resumé.

“DECA has really impacted my life, because it has helped me decide what I want to do in the future,” senior CJ Williams said. “I am going to be attending the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, and I will be majoring in visual communications. Being a part of DECA helped me realize all of my skills and things I love to do.”

It has been especially helpful to high school seniors who are unsure about their college majors or career choices.

“Before doing DECA I did not know what I wanted to major in,” senior Natalie Sowers said. “Being in DECA showed me what I am good at, which helped me decide to major in marketing.”