By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — A new club at Lynnfield High School is teaching students a wide variety of business and professional skills.
LHS juniors Addison Munion, Gianna Micieli and Rori Caprio gave an overview of the new Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) chapter at LHS during the School Committee’s May 20 meeting. The three juniors founded the DECA chapter at LHS.
“DECA prepares students in the fields of marketing, hospitality, finance and management in order to better prepare ourselves for the fields of business after graduation,” said Addison, who is DECA’s vice president. “We do this through various types of competitions and through meetings.”
Gianna, who is DECA’s president, said the three students decided to form the club after undertaking a Civics Action Project last year that sought to address “limited elective offerings at Lynnfield High School.”
“We wanted more out of our education and we wanted to expand our horizons,” said Gianna. “We were looking into home economics, science electives and true crime electives. We stumbled across DECA. We really just wanted to gain real world professional experiences through this process. We figured that we could bring a club to Lynnfield that had networking connections and something for everyone. We were able to do that through DECA.”
After conducting research about DECA, Addison said the three juniors learned that DECA clubs can participate in district, state and international competitions. She, Gianna and Rori met with LHS Principal Patricia Puglisi to discuss bringing the program to the high school.
“Ms. Puglisi told us that she previously worked at Manchester-Essex, which actually has a DECA program that is pretty big,” said Addison. “She then connected us with Manchester-Essex’s program.”
After visiting Manchester-Essex, Addison said the three students “really fell in love” with the DECA program. She said business teacher Matthew Dobbins agreed to serve as the DECA club’s advisor.
“We then started asking friends and peers to join,” said Addison. “We got a ton of interest actually, and we had to turn away people because we couldn’t have that many for our first year. I thought it was pretty huge because when you are starting a club, it is difficult to find members, but with DECA, so many people knew about it and were interested in it. It was really easy to find members.”
Addison said the DECA club meets before and after-school. In addition to learning about “interview strategies,” Addison said the students practice different role-play scenarios simulating professional situations that are used during DECA competitions. She noted that students wear business attire during competitions.
“You are given a business scenario where you have to compete to find solutions,” said Addison.
Rori said 18 LHS students attended the DECA District 6 Career Development Conference held at the Doubletree by Hilton in Danvers.
“We all competed in different categories, and there were a few that overlapped,” said Rori. “My and Addison’s category was Business Marketing Services. I placed second and she placed first. We started with role-plays because that is what we practiced during all of our meetings before school and after-school. That is what we were comfortable with. At Districts, you can also compete in projects or long-term assignments that you work on all year.”
While Addison said she chose marketing because her mom works in the profession, she said that she was “really nervous because I never had any experience with marketing.”
“It was really cool to experience what marketing was like,” said Addison.
Addison said Gianna placed first in the Human Resource Management competition at the District 6 Conference.
“That was super exciting,” said Addison.
Gianna said nine DECA members qualified for the State Career Development Conference held at the Westin Hotel in the Seaport.
“It was a three-day, very intensive and eye-opening experience,” said Gianna. “Speaking personally, it was super rewarding because going into DECA, we thought if we could send one person to states, we would be so proud. We ended up sending nine, which was just incredible. It was really inspiring to see almost 4,000 students all across the state all interested in the same thing, bettering themselves and preparing for the future.”
Gianna said having nine DECA members qualify for the state conference was “really rewarding.”
“We felt it was a ‘we made it’ moment for our club because for our first year sending nine students was really, really remarkable,” said Gianna. “I really want to give a shout out to Mr. Dobbins because without him, we wouldn’t have done it. It was definitely a great experience.”
Addison said the two conferences allowed DECA club members to “network with kids we have never met before.” She also said DECA club members were given the opportunity to meet with admissions’ counselors from different colleges.
“I am looking to apply to colleges and it is really important to me to be getting my name out there,” said Addison. “DECA was a really good opportunity to do this. I talked to colleges like Bentley, the College of Charleston, Babson and even UMass-Amherst, all of which I am very interested in. This was huge for me.”
Addison also said DECA club members were able to meet with business professionals.
“That was really important to me as well,” said Addison.
Addison thanked Dobbins for “playing a huge role” with the DECA club’s success this year, particularly at the two conferences.
“Mr. Dobbins did an incredible job teaching us to be well-prepared in the business realm,” said Addison.
Rori said Dobbins is “such a great teacher.”
While Gianna said there were no DECA club members who qualified for the International Career Development Conference this year, she said that “gives us even more motivation and drive to make it next year.”
“Hopefully as we expand our chapter, that will be a really attainable goal for us,” said Gianna.
Addison said DECA has taught the club members’ social skills, networking skills, presentation skills, resume building skills and confidence. She also said DECA helped expand students’ knowledge of different business professions and identify post-grad interests. While she was originally planning on becoming an attorney, Addison said she now wants to go into marketing after participating in DECA.
“I realized that I liked marketing so much more,” said Addison. “I am now planning on majoring in marketing in college.”
Addison thanked the School Committee for allowing her, Gianna and Rori to give the DECA presentation. She also thanked Puglisi and Dobbins for supporting the club.
The meetings attendees gave Addison, Gianna and Rori a round of applause.
SC praises DECA
School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy congratulated Addison, Gianna and Rori for “creating the club, having it so successful and getting so far this year.”
“It is really impressive,” said Elworthy. “Great job.”
School Committee member Kim Baker Donahue said the presentation was “wonderful.”
“It is just so amazing to be able to have these opportunities and learn these skills at this age,” said Baker Donahue. “I started a group in college, and even that was overwhelming and a little bit scary. To have this opportunity now is just awesome.”
In response to a question from Baker Donahue, Rori said DECA is limited to upperclassmen to make sure juniors and seniors can participate in the club. Addison also noted that only juniors and seniors can enroll at business classes at LHS.
School Committee member Jamie Hayman said he is “just so proud” of Addison, Gianna, Rori and the rest of the DECA club’s members.
“It is really hard work to start something like this,” said Hayman. “To have it start as a Civics Action Project, be able to see it through to its creation and have a lot of success, you should be really proud of yourselves. I know we as a community are really proud of you.”
School Committee Vice Chair Jim Dillon thanked Addison, Gianna and Rori for giving an “outstanding presentation.”
“Thank you for having the initiative to bring this program to Lynnfield High School,” said Dillon. “It is a great addition to the high school. Just listening to you speak, the real world skills that you talk about and are acquiring in this program can expand your horizons and your confidence. Those are very valuable things in life in general.”
School Committee member Kate DePrizio agreed.
“You all took the ball and ran with this one,” said DePrizio. “I can’t wait to see what you do next year.”