Coming off its big win at the competition held in Hyannis last month, Wareham High School’s DECA Club held a masquerade ball to raise funds for upcoming conferences on Saturday night, Feb. 3.

Wareham DECA is an organization and extra-curricular club at Wareham High School that prepares emerging entrepreneurs and leaders in management, marketing, finance and hospitality.

Of the 29 students who boarded the bus and headed to the DECA competition at the Emerald Resort in January, 22 returned with awards and will be heading to the Massachusetts DECA State Career Development Conference this upcoming March 7 through 9. 

This will cost over $500 per student, necessitating some creative fundraising efforts, according to the club’s advisor of seven years, Lisa Cunha.

In addition, some students may move onto the International Career Development Conference, which will be held in California this year, meaning it’ll be more expensive, according to Cunha.

“We always look for something bigger and better,” Cunha said of the club’s fundraising.

Last year, the club did a Spring Fling, but this year DECA President Stoney Ferry had something a little different in mind. 

During a marketing class last year, Ferry chose to do one of her presentation projects on a masquerade ball that would be held at the school — she was partially keeping in mind how this could be used for DECA in the future. 

Then, “we implemented it into our fundraising plan and we made it happen with our Period Four class,” Ferry said. “It took a lot of work, but I’m really proud of everyone and I think it came out pretty well.”

Ferry added, “I just hope it becomes an annual dance and that the DECA Club will be able to recreate it because it's a really great fundraising opportunity.”

According to Cunha, 115 students were anticipated to join the dance on Saturday night and there will be plenty more DECA fundraisers coming soon.