DECA students strike gold in California

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, May 2, 2001

Austin High School’s Distributive Education Clubs of America program has distinguished itself again, this time in California.

Wednesday, May 02, 2001

Austin High School’s Distributive Education Clubs of America program has distinguished itself again, this time in California. After winning first at the state competition in early March, Lyndsey DeVries, Trina Fisher, Michael Hansen and Dan Smith have even bigger bragging rights, after placing within the top 10 of 120 DECA presentation groups in the nation. They returned to Minnesota with two medals for placing tops in the nation.

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DECA is a student association created more than 50 years ago whose mission is to encourage leadership and innovation from marketing students. These particular four students based their presentation on a subject within the field of marketing and free enterprise.

The students learned as much as they could about the free enterprise system and then taught what they had learned to a fifth-grade class at Southgate Elementary School and a sixth-grade class at Ellis Middle School.

They also posted information on the AHS marquee, on KAAL-TV and on KAUS-AM.

The students created fliers explaining the free enterprise system to stuff into grocery bags at Hy-Vee Food Store in Austin. Finally, they created a Web site to explain free enterprise, which can be found at http://www.austin.k12.mn.us/test/AHS/DECA.

On Saturday, the students presented a paper and presentation, which included a view of the Web site via a laptop lent to the group by Dan Miller from Hormel Foods Corp. After this initial presentation, they learned they had placed in the top 16 of 120 teams in the nation. Later that night, they competed again, this time presenting without the paper as a component to the judging. The second presentation brought them the top 10 prize.

Eight judges listened to 15 group presentations and then chose two groups from that 15. That means that even if 15 of the top groups presented before one judge, still only two would go on to the finals.

In the more difficult second round, the judge asked them three three-part questions, all of which were unknown before the competition. The judged asked them to define fiscal policy and monetary policy and explain how it works in a federal reserve system. The students admitted their answers were vague to that question. If they had nailed the answer to that question, marketing teacher and DECA adviser Ginny Riege said they would have probably placed in the top three in the nation.

According to DECA rules, only three students are allowed to present, which means DeVries got to enjoy the trip without the agitation of preparing to present in front of a judge. She did, however, help her teammates to practice before the event.

The students learned they had won in a room of the Anaheim Convention Center, surrounded by 13,000 students. Though they found it difficult to hear the winning names as they were called, when they won there was no doubt.

"Trina and Michael start running up there and I’m sprinting to catch up to them," Smith said. Smith, who was not able to attend the state competition because of a game, was responsible for creating the group’s Web site, which Hansen believes gave the group an edge over the competition.

"The Web site enhanced our presentation," Hansen said. "We used it as an activity to communicate."

Riege agreed: "We were looking for the edge. I really think it was our ability to use the laptop. I thought our Web site was really impressive."

As to what their chances were before they left for nationals, Riege was confident the students would do well: "Minnesota is a good state, so I knew that if you win at state, you are a national contender," Riege said.

DECA did not fund the trip, so the students’ and Riege’s trip expenses were paid from a variety of sources, including the DECA treasury, Riege’s out-district travel account and profit from DECA fund-raisers like Datamatch and the sale of caps and gowns. Riege estimated it cost each of them $700 to take the trip.

Because of the tight budget, the four students said they lived on food provided by sponsors like Frito-Lay and Pepsi during the weekend, because only one or two meals were provided. Between presentations and scheduled events, the students were able to enjoy some time at a famous Anaheim attraction – Disneyland – and bake a bit in the California sun before catching their plane back to Minnesota.

"Our team did really well together," Fisher said. They agreed that each student contributed to the total success of the group, and no one fought for control.

Smith credited Riege and their English teachers with aiding in the success of the project, since each went through the paper and presentation, looking for grammatical errors or problems with logical flow.

DeVries, Fisher and Smith will be graduating this year, leaving Hansen, who is a junior, behind. DeVries, who currently is the local DECA chapter’s treasurer, plans to go on to a degree in accounting. Fisher, who is the chapter’s vice president, plans to go on to a degree in business and marketing. Smith will be majoring in mathematics, with a minor in business. Hansen will start with business administration when he graduates and said he plans to find a new group to present with next year, when he will be working on a DECA independent study project.