Qualified groups from Bearden’s DECA program will travel to Chattanooga in February to compete in the state competition.
For this competition, DECA students can choose to compete in the roleplay category or written category. For the competition setup, the roleplay groups will talk directly to a judge about their business strategy, while the written groups write a business plan that is typically around 20 pages.
The roleplay groups competed on Nov. 14 at districts in Knoxville.
“We had 20 of our 27 students qualify for state,” DECA sponsor Ms. Tricia Leslie said, “so they will join the 50 students that are doing written that have already qualified for that competition.”
Since the written groups need a longer time for preparation, they are automatically qualified for state and do not compete prior to the state competition.
“If somebody chooses to do a written event, they are guaranteed to go to state because it is more intensive and more work,” Ms. Leslie said.
Students in the written category spend all of their time leading up to state working on and perfecting their business plans. They also get feedback to help improve their work.
Bearden DECA students submit drafts of their proposals to Ms. Leslie before winter break, and she returns them to students with comments.
“We’ll fix it, and it’s way more prepared for state,” DECA member Thatcher Ella said.
Added Ms. Leslie: “I just kind of help them through the process. It’s different for every student depending on their level of experience.”
Students can also choose how many people they want to compete with.
“The written groups are usually around two to three people,” Ella said. “For roleplay, it’s usually around two people, and you can do one person for roleplay.”
The roleplay groups have also been hard at work, competing at an extra competition than the written groups. Those students take a 100-question test before getting a case study to review and discuss business solutions with a judge.
The roleplay students that qualified will travel to Chattanooga in February to compete against other students from across the state, joining the students in the written groups making their competition debut for this year.