Twelve DECA members participated in the district competition on Fri., Jan. 9 and nine of them came back with medals.

Business teacher Robin Palmer attended the district competition and was pleased and surprised when her second year participants won their event.

“I was very proud of them. Last year was their first competition, so they learned how to be successful and work together since then,” Palmer said.

Palmer has experienced this before, and she knows what will come about.

“[The district competition] is a great way for students to learn how competition works.  Students are usually nervous at their first competition,” Palmer said.

Both Palmer and her students had goals for the competition.

“[The goal I was striving for was] to have the students understand the need to study and prepare for competition, but also to let them see how creative they can be in their event,” Palmer said.

As a part of the DECA crew, Palmer has a few words of advice for all DECA members.

“Never stop trying. Enjoy competition and the chance it gives you to learn and to display your skills,” Palmer said.

Sophomore Ray Abramusic participated in the marketing communication on team decision making with his partner, sophomore Antonio Sanchez.

“[Our event consisted of being] given a prompt and preparing what we were going to say to a judge, as if it was a job interview,” Abramusic said.

Abramusic has been in DECA since freshman year, and this is his first win since he has been in DECA.

“I was honestly surprised because last year I didn’t win anything, and this year I won first place,” Abramusic said.

Besides competing against other schools, Abramusic learned some lessons from being in DECA.

“DECA has taught me to be prepared to talk to any boss that I may have in the future,” Abramusic said.

DECA has many different events that can fit students’ interests. Abramusic is in marketing communication, and he has motivation to keep going.

“DECA has motivated me to get out and see more things and meet new people and compete against different schools I wouldn’t get to see,” Abramusic said.

Everyone makes mistakes, even in competitions, so being able to figure out your mistakes and to improve on them makes a big difference.

“[Next time, I would try] to get time to study and to perfect the events we do. There’s always room for improvements,” Abramusic said.

Winning is fun and exciting, but winning alongside your best friend is even better.

“I like having to compete with my greatest friends and beating other people,” Abramusic said.

Sanchez joined DECA last year and won a medal in his second year in the club.

“I felt great about winning because there was this guy who thought he was better than us, but beside that, it’s really cool to be able to think of a business plan in under 20 minutes,”Sanchez said.

DECA has taught Sanchez lifelong lessons.

“DECA has taught me to create propositions and how to really work things out, and to break everything down and build it back up in a better way,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez’s motivation in participating in DECA is  his career.  He is preparing for what he plans to do with his life.

“[My motivation is to] plan on going to a business school and graduating so that I can take over my father’s company and expanding it,” Sanchez said.

Change can be great, and knowing your mistakes and fixing them is part of getting on the right path to success.