“DECA is about generations,” said Wareham High School Distributive Education Clubs of America advisor Cindy Sylvia.

She said generations of students have participated in the business club. For example, she now has a freshman in the club whose parents were previously in the club during Sylvia’s time.

At a School Committee meeting in January, Sylvia pointed to committee member Kenneth Fontes.

“Mr. Fontes was part of DECA’s first graduating class in 1974,” Sylvia said.

The local program was started in 1974 by Sylvia's father Cliff Sylvia, now a School Committee member, then a teacher at Wareham High.

“People ask me how do I like retirement. Retirement is just fine,” Cliff Sylvia said. “But, everyone in Wareham knows I’m pretty involved in the community. The one thing I miss most during my retirement, though, is these kids.”

“These kids are what we are all about as teaching professionals,” he said, apparently overwhelmed by emotion. “That can’t be replicated. Being on the School Committee, being in the School Department keeps me just a little bit closer to these amazing, remarkable kids.”

“If I’ve done anything worthwhile for the Wareham public schools, it’s been to establish this program,” he said. “But, if I have a legacy with the DECA program, my daughter Cindy has surpassed it 10 times.”

This year, 84 students went to the District Conference of 155 DECA students. Eighty-two of the Wareham students met the national standard, 51 were finalists, 14 placed in the top three, and seven were first-place winners.

“We compete against schools way bigger than us, huge schools,” Cindy Sylvia said.

DECA competitions include a 100-question marketing exam, a mock job interview, a case study assessment and a 100-question business administration exam.

“It was one of the greatest experiences in my life,” student Malange DePina said of the district event.

“Leaving it behind is so hard for me,” graduating senior MacKenzie Connell said last week. “Although I am the president of DECA. I don’t feel like that. Everything I do, I am helped by everyone in DECA. In school or out of school, we are always there for each other.”