Although DECA is a relatively new club at Diamond Bar High School, members have already kicked off the year with a great start.

DECA, also known as Distributive Education Clubs of America, was started this school year by sophomore Melody Chang with the purpose of training students in finance, marketing, business administration, and hospitality.

Achieving high rankings at the first event they participated in early January, the Southern California CDC Development Conference, the club is looking toward a promising future.

“I wanted a club like DECA because I’m interested in pursuing a career in business in the future, specifically in market and finance.” President Chang said.

In the CDC conference, students were assigned roleplay prompts to work with.  Given only 10 minutes to prepare and comprehend the prompts, the students had to present their skit to the judges. The students were then asked questions relating to their skit by three judges, who ultimately decided the fate of the competitors.

Brahmas who obtained high rankings from the conference include junior Ashley Chen and sophomores Matthew Ho, Kenny Ni and Brian Ng.

“DECA is a fun business opportunity since you can have fun with your friends while competing .  The roleplay and events are really educational activities you can do with other people,” Technology Representative Sabin Park said.

Although this particular conference only involved schools in Southern California, the club plans on participating in international events in the future.

Since the majority of the club members consist of sophomores — and one freshman and junior — DECA plans on recruiting a larger variety of students next year.  If the membership increases significantly, they may be considering the possibility of tryouts for future students who are interested in joining.

During their club meetings, members are provided materials and subjects they must study for competitions, as well as advice on how to prepare for roleplays.

“We’re not sure if we’re attending state this year, but since all of our accomplishments in the recent conference, we’re thinking of going to compete in district and state next year,” Chang said.