Washington's DECA Champion's Celebration Luncheon was Held to Honor Students & Raise Funds

Washington's DECA Champion's Celebration Luncheon was held in May this year at the Washington Athletic Club in downtown Seattle to honor this year's DECA students who won various awards at the National DECA competition and to raise funds for the organization from the attendees.

DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America is not necessarily well known to the community at large. However, the organization teams teachers, students, their parents and businesses to develop the leaders of tomorrow. DECA goes outside the classroom to give students hands-on experiences in the fields of marketing, business and entrepreneurship to enhance high school students' education. DECA provides conferences and competitions that help to mold high school students into character-driven leaders.

According to the organization's website, Washington DECA has over 10,400 members in 144 chapters across the state and is the fourth largest association in the nation. You have only to meet one of these student members and speak with them for a few minutes to see what an incredible impact the organization and the teachers involved have on the students.

The keynote speaker, Colleen Brown, President and CEO of Fisher Communications, Inc. admitted upfront in her talk that she was DECA in Iowa when she was in high school. She told a spell-bound group that she went to competition and lost out to a girl from Hawaii, whose name she did not reveal but indicated that went on to be in politics in Hawaii. As she vividly described how DECA and her advisor molded the way she looked at the business world, as well as giving her a real-life experience in the consequences of financial responsibility. She places a high value on the attribute of resiliency that she learned while involved in DECA.

She also passed around the room a cell phone which is being tested to deliver broadcast programs on a mobile platform. She anticipates this will be made available before the end of 2010. Brown believes part of the future will include the local communities communicating local activities. Hence the local communities can communicate via KOMO through the station's neighborhood news website. They have 125 such neighborhood websites with 1500 advertisers targeting the local neighborhoods. Examples include Downtown Seattle, Fremont, and Queen Anne neighborhoods.

After watching videos and hearing from the students, attendees ponied up to contribute to continue the vital work of Washington DECA. Companies that supported by buying tables and filling them with employees, business associates and clients included Fisher Communications, Peoples Bank, Ernst & Young, Towers Watson, US Bank, Key Bank and Shanna & Brent LaMar. Dr. Randy Rowland was Master of Ceremonies and JamesClark Design was the in-Kind Event Sponsor.

If you are a student, or a parent of a student, in the state of Washington and want more information about DECA, go to www.wadeca.org for more information.