Although the Massachusetts DECA State Career Development Conference was held virtually this year because of the covid-19 pandemic, Wareham High School’s DECA students still managed to impress competition judges and their peers at the conference.

Several Wareham DECA students advanced at the conference and will be able to attend the International Career Development Conference. Two students earned high marks for their written project and an additional two students ran for statewide office within the organization. 

The DECA program aims to educate students who will become leaders or entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. 

Sophomores Indiana Troupe and Laura Clements both ran for open positions as State Officers on the Massachusetts DECA State Action Team.

A press release from the Wareham DECA team explained that running for a spot on the State Action Team — a group of student elected officers who help run the state’s DECA program — is a significant accomplishment, because there is a lengthy application process. Troupe said he and Clements were among about 40 students who expressed interest in running for the open positions.

On Thursday, March 25, it was announced that Troupe had been elected to serve as one of eight State Officers on the team. Troupe was elected by delegates, each of whom represent 10 members of a school’s DECA chapter.

As an officer, Troupe said he will represent about 5,000 DECA students in over 100 Massachusetts schools. Troupe will also represent Massachusetts for national DECA matters when needed. 

State Officers help plan DECA events including the State Career Development Conference, the Fall State Leadership Conference and fundraisers, Troupe said. The officers work to ensure students have enjoyable experiences both at events and as members of Massachusetts DECA overall, he added.

“I hope to really get to know a lot of our members on an individual level and work with them to make DECA the best organization it can be,” Troupe said, when asked what he hoped to accomplish as State Officer. “We also have a lot of work to do to get these big events we host back in-person, so that is a huge task ahead of me.”

Bridgid Irivng and Emilie Keating’s written project titled “Financial Literacy Project: Planting the Seed for a Financial Tomorrow” ranked top 10 in its category statewide. 

Irving described the project as “a written plan to help educate the youth of today on financial topics.” 

In the project, Irving said she and Keating explored ways to improve financial education among youth “via zoom meetings, speaking to other professionals, and partnering with other organizations.” The pair also emphasized how important it is for schools to offer financial courses, as is the case at Wareham High School.  

Irving and Keating first began working on the project in January 2020 and have continued to improve on it over time. 

Irving said finding out the project had placed in the top 10 in its category was “very exciting.” 

“It showed that [our] work amounted to something, and that the judges may have seen potential in our project,” she said.