DECA Districts takes place online this year

Like so much else in the 20-21 school year, the DECA Districts Competition had a huge change that came with it: the 2020 competition was run online all across the United States, making it turn out a lot different than any other DECA year. Instead of the huge competition in which thousands of competitors usually are competing, the event was held virtually in single rooms, with only the judge and competitor(s) present. Many students showed their concern before the competition regarding what it would look like. Senior Caleb Holmes-McGahan is one of those students; Holmes-McGahan stated, “I think the competition will be much different and will hold some new challenges.” Other students like Eddie Macdougall have different opinions on the situation. Macdougall stated, “I actually enjoyed the way the event was put together. Being online made me feel safer and helped me focus on performing well while being judged.” Many students also didn’t understand how to join their competition room and were having even more issues. More and more problems came up, and by the end, it was clear that the online competition was disliked by many, but some did enjoy it because of the minimized risk of passing or getting Covid-19.. As the competition concluded, many were unsure of how well they did and some were flustered over the way the event took place. The MHS teacher who runs DECA at the school, Kaye Sommer, stated “I think it was great how DECA still took place and had great precautions, but it definitely was unfortunate that it had to take place online.” Sommers said that she hopes that the test being online doesn’t harm how someone performs during their roleplay. Luckily, this didn’t seem to be the case as there were no huge failures at MHS from the competition and it did work out okay for most competitors. Ultimately, 29 Milford High School students made it to States. The students who made it are Reagan Allen, Nicholas Briggs, Jack Cheney, Riley Coesens, Abbey Colone, Peyton Cullen, Zoe Dagenhardt, Lauren Empie, Ian Gibson, Brooke Gollan, Logan Laughrey, Taryn Marshall, Colleen McMillian, Chloe Mobley, Luke Preston, Veronica Ricci, Ahlayna Riley, Maria Ruth, Lily Shaw, Bryce Siterlet, Mackenzie Stauss, Aleah Suser, Abbey Werner, Helena Wilson, Atticus Gondoly, Sarah Rand, Allison Schils, Caleb Holmes-McGahan, and Eddie Macdougall. All of these students will be heading to States, March 7-12, which means that they have done well on both their roleplay and test. Most students are happy with how they performed and many students who did not make it say it was due to the online portion of the competition. Students complained that judges could not hear them properly or their cameras kept glitching. Some students had to wait long periods of time just to enter the website and join their competitions. Logan Laughrey a Milford High School senior stated, “It was frustrating trying to get into the judging part of the website, but I am happy that we could still participate and that I have made it to States.” The next portion of the competition continues soon, and students are excited and getting prepared for the competition ahead. Unfortunately, the State competition will also be online, which many are disappointed about. This school year has been crazy for so many students, and DECA is a great way to distract students from their problems, and give them a fun, helpful competition that will help build their business skills for the future. As the next competition approaches, DECA members from Milford High School are ready for their roleplay and written competitions and can’t wait to try and make it to the international competition.