Knocking on doors to wash windows may not sound like business training, but for sophomore William McMullin, it was the edge that set him apart from thousands of Distributive Education Clubs of America, or DECA, competitors.
“We just finished our state event, there were almost 10,000 students, and only so many get to go international,” HPHS Media and Information Technology Department Chair and DECA supervisor Rena Bowden said. “It’s like a process of elimination, and because you have so many students competing, that’s where the rigor of the competition is.”
Between April 25-28, McMullin will travel to Atlanta to compete with thousands of talented students for the DECA International Career Development Conference after qualifying at the Texas State Competition.
“The test was pretty hard, so I didn’t expect to qualify for state,” McMullin said. “So to go to state, ‘I was like, wow, I’m so lucky to be here.’ And then I was so shocked to qualify for internationals.”
Outside of DECA, McMullin is involved across campus as a member of the JV tennis team and as VP of Publicity for the HP Bass Team, experiences that have helped him build the discipline needed for competition. Since he is planning to major in business, he added DECA to his extracurriculars. As the UIL of business, DECA offers a variety of events covering different business concepts, giving students like McMullin the opportunity to apply those skills in a competitive setting.
“The test has 100 questions. My event is in the category of business administration, and there are seven principal events,” McMullin said.
While the test measures the students’ knowledge and vocabulary, the role play in front of the judges tests McMullin’s ability to apply all of this in a real-life situation.
“For state, the judge and I were working in an investment firm, and the judge was my co-worker. I had to explain to the judge how our investment firm collects information, how we analyze the information, how we apply it to our investment firm, and also how technology impacts our business,” McMullin said.
DECA was introduced at our school just two years ago, making McMullin’s advancement to the international level especially impressive, as he is only the second student from the program to qualify.
“I came to Highland Park in my sophomore year. Freshman year at my old school, I already knew about DECA because it was previously established there. So I just decided, I might as well start it here,” student president of DECA senior Saanvi Saddi said.
Since then, the program has expanded rapidly, with participation growing from just a few students to dozens competing at all levels.
“What happened was last year some students came up and said,’ Hey, we want to start this program, would you be willing to sponsor us and be the advisor?’ And I said sure,” Bowden said. “This year I had almost 35 students sign up to compete, so it’s turning into a bigger deal than I originally thought.”
The increasing number of students shows how quickly the program is growing. Opportunities that once seemed limited are now opening up, giving participants a chance to develop their skills, compete at higher levels, and take on leadership roles in DECA.
“He gets two more years to compete, and then if he wants to continue DECA, they do have it at the collegiate level. So he’ll already be a member and already have three years under his belt and can continue that in leadership roles or competition if he wants to,” Bowden said.
As McMullin looks ahead to the rest of his high school career and future competitions, his experience in DECA has already begun to shape not only his understanding of business but also his confidence in his abilities.
“I just have a lot more confidence in my ability to speak and my knowledge of business. I think I’m going to try to run for president or some leadership role next year,” said McMullin.
