Many students dream of someday owning a successful company. The aspiring students of today need to know the fundamentals on how to become an entrepreneur in this rigorous economy. The DECA club is doing just that. DECA works to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe.

    DECA, which stands for Distributive Education Clubs of America was founded in 1946 and has spread to the high school level, including 3,500 schools  and more than 190,000 members. Through the determination and hard work of Elizabeth Maciolek, volunteer and DECA competitive event judge, Barnstable created a DECA club earlier this year.

Maciolek worked alongside state advisor Donna McFadden for five years to get a curriculum for DECA up and running at Barnstable. DECA was granted “three years of club status,” explained Maciolek. In that time, the goal is to construct “hospitality, finance, marketing and business related classes to fulfill the requirements of a DECA curriculum at Barnstable,” said Maciolek.

Senior Kevin Schofield also played a role in the push for DECA at Barnstable. “I knew someone who participated in the DECA club and felt it would be a great addition to the Barnstable system,” explained Schofield. Along with the assistance of economics teacher Kate Scholes, who stepped up to advise the students, and junior Zack Murphy, Schofield managed to get the club up and running.

“Our next step was to recruit students who would take the club seriously and become dedicated members,” said Schofield. After spreading the word about the club, members including junior Ashleigh Maciolek, sophomore Katie Wasierski, senior Ryan Palmer, and junior Pat Thompson joined.

After less than a year as a club, DECA’s success at competitions proves Maciolek’s point that the school’s “bright  students were in need of an outlet such as DECA to demonstrate their potential in the business world.”

Competitions for DECA involve “performing business related scenarios, presenting and developing business plans, and a written exam,” explained Murphy, who along with Schofield placed at Regionals and States earlier this year, qualifying them for Nationals.

As a judge at these competitions, Maciolek knows the effort that goes into these presentations.

“These young people compete against some of the brightest students in the nation,” she explained. “They have to come prepared in order to be successful.”

Maciolek has several goals for the DECA club, including the creation of a “school spirit store” which DECA members would manage, advertise, and run to put their skills into real life scenarios. “If DECA could participate in school business such as a store, profits could go to their future participation in competitions and further their experience,” she said.

Despite competitions and trophies, Ashleigh Maciolek commented on the “bigger picture” of the DECA club and what it truly means. “Through DECA, my eyes have truly been opened to what I want to do with my life– I’ve learned skills I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else,” explained Ashleigh Maciolek.

“DECA club’s future is bright,” remarked Wasierski. If DECA is granted the curriculum they have requested, it will become integrated into the course offerings at BHS.

“Barnstable students are some of the smartest kids I’ve ever met,” said Elizabeth Maciolek. “It’s not just sports and theatre here at Barnstable. It’s brains, too.”