Students meet the Challenge

Students at Whitefish High School are taking care of business this year with DECA, the high school's business and marketing club.

DECA, or Distributive Education Clubs of America, is a national organization committed to the advocacy of marketing education and the growth of business/education partnership. Whitefish High School teacher Jeremy Anderson is the DECA instructor.

"DECA's objective is to support the development of marketing and management skills in career areas such as hospitality, finance, sales and service, sports and entertainment, international business, business administration and entrepreneurship," Anderson said. "It provides recognition and leadership activities directly related to attainment of specific occupational and leadership skills."

DECA attracts students of every grade level and interest, and hosts a variety of activities, trips and business challenges and competitions throughout the year.

"I joined DECA because I'm really interested in business," senior and DECA president Zach Maassen said. "Participation in DECA has taught me to be responsible more than anything. I've also learned to help the less-experienced students with competitions and learning the foundations of business."

"DECA is great for kids who love marketing and are looking for a career in business," Cole Havens, a member of DECA, said.

Some Whitefish DECA students recently participated in the annual Montana High School Business Challenge, a statewide business simulation competition begun at the beginning of the year.

The Challenge entails an eight-week session during which student teams realistically manage a simulated company that manufactures and markets a compact personal DVD player. More than 1,500 students compete in the Challenge annually.

"The Challenge is an opportunity for students to really gain firsthand knowledge of decisions that major corporations deal with on a daily basis through their involvement in the simulation," Anderson said. "They have to be able to read complex financial statements, analyze financial and economic data, and make decisions that will ultimately affect their bottom line while maintaining a set of high values."

The Challenge ended Dec. 9, but not without Whitefish success. Maassen along with teammate Bentley Smith placed second, while teammates Cole Havens and Ryan Rouse finished in third.

"I enjoyed being able to make all my own decisions and to have the power over something, where what I did reflected what the company did," Maassen said. "It was definitely like being an owner of a business."

"The challenge was both difficult and fun," Havens said. "Taking control of a business was cool. It taught me a lot about what the real world is going to be like."

The winning teams were honored on Jan. 14-15 at the Montana Chamber of Commerce's Business Days at the Capitol, a business conference in Helena made up of 400 participating business leaders, legislators and government officials.

DECA participants are looking forward to the annual marketing trip on Feb. 1-9. Last year, students traveled to New York for a week to participate in various business and marketing conferences. This year, members will travel to Orlando, Fla., for several business conferences, a trip to Disney World and an end-of-the-week business competition in Helena.