By: Timothy Chhor

Top row, from left to right: Eric Weng, Aden Lee, Timothy Chhor, Ashley Yiu, Nicolas Tran

Bottom row, from left to right:  Suhana Jhamnani, Ananiya Narmathan, Alyssa Lapakulchai, Clara Fu, Parniya Bayat-Mokhtari

Sunday, November 12th, St. A’s DECA team gathered at Seneca College, Newnham Campus, to compete with the rest of York Region. Their Co-President, Alyssa Lapakulchai, shares her experience with DECA and some thoughts on regionals through an interview, a message meant for her team. 

Alyssa was first asked to recount her experience with DECA and discussed the year so far, while also covering the results of their hard work. She expressed her gratitude for everyone’s efforts.

1. How would you describe this year that you spent with St. A’s DECA team so far?

“At first it was chaotic, I can’t lie, because there were more than 2 times the applicants of last year, but the good thing with our new student population is that you can see how devoted they are through their efforts.

The chaos got better thanks to Ms. Brizzi’s hard work. I am really grateful for all the teacher volunteers, Mr. Romano, Mrs. Giannantonio, Ms. Vacca and Mr. Cardona, at regionals and executives for preparing our members so well. I have high hopes for the team at provincials, hopefully moving on to ICDC, because of how devoted everyone is.”

Lapakulchai, Alyssa. Interview

St.A’s DECA saw 36 people going on to compete at Provincials, the competition scheduled for February 9th, 2024. Next, Alyssa explains her reasons for striving to become one of the two Co-Presidents for the 2023-2024 year.

2. Why did you want to become St. A DECA’s Co-President for 2023?

“DECA helped me explore what I liked, which is Finance. From moving 3-4 years ago from Hong Kong, DECA helped me connect with St. A as a community, and I want to recreate the experience for other students. 

Leadership skills really help us, so I want to help develop fellow St. A members’ leadership skills and provide opportunities. I also had so many new ideas for DECA: for example, increasing student participation. I was really excited to bring many new ideas to DECA through leadership.”

Lapakulchai, Alyssa. Interview

This next question had Alyssa explain the challenge of managing a huge club, but how it was made much easier with a capable executive team. 

3. Were you faced with any challenges?

“It was really mostly about organizing the large population, but we really did a good job with informing people about what DECA is, and how competitive it is. Not many challenges because of our capable executive team. Though, I would have liked to start the year with a social media representative. It was chaotic in the beginning and hard to add another challenge.”

Lapakulchai, Alyssa. Interview

Aiming to know if Alyssa was shaped by her duties, she was prompted with the next question and described the contrast between her two perspectives that gave her a newfound appreciation.

4. How has your experience with DECA as the Co-President, changed you?

“As the Co-President, it gave me a different perspective, compared to when I was a member, seeing others win really made me proud of our St. A population. Sitting in the stands, cheering on anyone who won an award was a really unifying moment. 

It made me truly appreciate Ms. Brizzi’s work. As a Co-President, you see behind the scenes, how busy she is and why she needs a great executive team. All those stressors and extra responsibilities are completely her choice, and she chose them because of her love for St. A and DECA.

Being an executive let me understand hard work. Sometimes, you have to take initiative to seek productivity and effectively execute it. The executive interview determines your capability through your past and academics; but when in the role, you have to prove that you are the best fit. This year, I worked hard and won top ten roleplay and overall in my category.”

Lapakulchai, Alyssa. Interview

5. Any final comments you would like to make about this step in the competition, coming out of regionals?

“For those that didn’t qualify, don’t beat yourself up for it. The Multiple Choice exam is always difficult. For the roleplays, each judge can be very different with marking. You could do really well this year, but have bad luck with a judge, so please try again next year.

For those who did qualify, very good job. Reward yourself for the hard work. 

Provincials is a rare opportunity to go out, compete with your friends, and cheer everyone on. Even if you don’t live in the hotel, you will still enjoy it. I didn’t live in the hotel last year and still had a good experience. My liking towards Toronto grew, as after all I did move, and I love the opportunity that they provide students with.”

Lapakulchai, Alyssa. Interview

The regional competition was a success, thanks to the St. A team. The next 3 months will be preparations to compete with the rest of the province for a chance to go compete in an international competition, ICDC.

To her team, Alyssa Lapakulchai leaves one more message. “Work hard, utilize resources provided to you from our executives. Even if you don’t make it to Provincials, if you attend those meetings, you prepare for next year and network with other people. Consistent attendance shows your dedication to the club.” 

Works Cited

Lapakulchai, Alyssa. Interview. Conducted by Timothy Chhor. November 17th, 2023