by Preston Lui

The 46th DECA Provincials Competition occurred last weekend from February 7th-8th. Over 6000 students, including 36 from St. Augustine’s DECA chapter went downtown to Sheraton Centre to compete in various different business events. But how did St. Augustine’s best and brightest DECA members do? Keep reading to find out… 

While the number of students attending from our chapter was the same as last year, there was notably a significant improvement in the team’s performance this year. This year, 12 students from St. Augustine DECA won a total of 20 awards and fielded three international qualifiers, compared to only 6 students, 9 awards, and one international qualifier last year. 

Additionally, this year only 3/12 of our award recipients and none of our international qualifiers were Grade 12, while last year, 4/6 award recipients including our international qualifier were Grade 12 and would not be returning to pass down their skills. This is a vital statistic, as with such talented young members, it guarantees a positive future for the chapter. 

While the benefits of the entrance exam, discussed in our last article about DECA, were not immediately apparent after the Regionals competition in November as there was not a major increase in provincial qualifiers, the benefits of the exam have been revealed at provincials with the significant increase in award recipients. 

We were fortunate enough to be able to conduct an interview with Brian Huang, who was our chapter’s best performing member this year, having achieved top scores in his roleplays and exams. He was also our only Provincial Champion, a title bestowed only to those who achieved a score in the top 10 in their event. 

Why did you join DECA?

“I joined DECA for my business portfolio. Currently I am just exploring my options, I know I might not go into engineering, so I am just doing DECA so if I want to go into business I can.” 

You were the only provincial champion in our school, and one of three ICDC qualifiers. How did you prepare? 

“A lot of people studied a crazy amount of hours; I focused on studying smart. Don’t study hard, study smart. What I did was I first built up my foundation for my exam and roleplay by looking through online sources. Through that, it was really simple, I had a clear road path and then I was able to study well and efficiently.”

Do you have any advice for anyone who is in DECA and is looking to go to ICDC?

“To do well, you need a clear roadmap. You can’t just spam exams. For me personally I was pretty new to marketing, so I needed a good foundation and not just terms, because I wouldn’t know how to connect the terms. So what I did was use online courses that did teach me the terms, and allowed me to connect them, so that it wasn’t only helpful in my exams, but it also helped me during my roleplay and that made me stand out a lot.” 

So what are your future plans for DECA next year?

“I want to change the spirit of DECA. Currently, our executives are not too positive about our ICDC chances. But I believe that if I just show people that I believe in them, and that through hard work like me they can make it, then it will definitely boost morale and increase ICDC qualifiers, because that’s all I needed – someone to believe in me.” 

Special thanks to Ms. Brizzi, Ms. Tavone, and Ms. Miele for supporting our chapter over the weekend, as well as Mr. Cocchetto and Mr. Merlin for supervising us during provincials. We wish our best to Brian Huang and Grace Cheng who will be heading to Orlando, Florida in April to participate in the international competition. 

Special congratulations to the following students who won awards at Provincials:

Rowan Lim (Principles of Entrepreneurship) – Top 20 Roleplay 2

Eloise Nose (Entrepreneurship Series) – Top 20 Roleplay 1, Top 20 Overall [ICDC Qualifier]

Brian Huang (Apparel and Accessories Marketing Series) – Top 20 Roleplay 1, Top 15 Exam, Top 20 Overall, Top 10 Overall Provincial Champion [ICDC Qualifier]

Malin Daunt (Retail Merchandising Series) – Top 20 Roleplay 1, Top 15 Exam, Top 20 Overall

Jasmine Wong, Alyssa Tsang (Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making) – Top 16 Roleplay

Preston Lui (Restaurant and Food Service Management Series) – Top 15 Exam

Rachael Chan (Hospitality Services Team Decision Making) – Top 15 Exam

Nicole Li (Human Resources Management Series) – Top 20 Roleplay 1, Top 15 Exam

Grace Cheng (Human Resources Management Series) – Top 15 Exam, Top 20 Overall [ICDC Qualifier]

Jaime Feng (Business Finance Series) – Top 20 Roleplay 1, Top 20 Overall

Eric Weng (Business Finance Series) – Top 20 Roleplay 2