Over 1,100 DECA students from Kansas, including 13 students from Mill Valley, gathered at the Overland Park Marriott on Sunday, March 8 to compete in the three-day SCDC competition.

Vice president of human resources and senior Ellen Merrill said this has been what DECA has been working towards all year.

“This is state so this is what our whole semester, [and] our year so far has led up to,” Merrill said. “This is the big competition for the whole state of Kansas so winning here will place you to nationals.”

Although it is difficult to prepare for competition, DECA practices certain components of their role plays in advance.

“We prepare in class a little bit. We practice our introduction or we practice prepping but you really can’t prepare all that much because you don’t know the event until you go in [and receive your role play],” Merrill said. “I just think you need to be prepared to improv and just go with what your gut says.”

Because of the different environment of SCDC, social media coordinator and senior Macy Walker said she had mixed feelings.

“I’m a little nervous. I think it’s going to be different since we’re doing two role plays instead of one [and] I think the test is going to be harder,” Walker said. “[However], I feel pretty good [because] we have had a lot of practice going to Blue Valley Northwest, Lansing and Blue Valley West. So we’ve had a lot of practice going into it and I think overall you just go do your best and try to come out on top.”

The previous practice at past competitions helped Merrill to feel good about her role play performance on Monday, March. 9.

“The role plays were a lot easier than in the past competitions and it went very smoothly because we were prepared,” Merrill said. “We have been to other competitions so we knew what to expect and we are more comfortable.”

The role plays that DECA members take part in helps Walker to feel more prepared for the real world.

“I think it has just really prepared me for the professional world,” Walker said. “It makes me more comfortable [for] interviews [because] I’m doing role play with someone that I don’t know and so doing that a few times, it’s just really helped me if I go into an interview with a complete stranger.”

Merrill also said that DECA has helped her prepare for her future.

“DECA has helped me grow as a person because it gives me an edge up on like a college student that wasn’t in DECA,” Merrill said. “If I was going into an interview for a school or something that I really wanted I might be a little more prepared just because I’ve had the experience.”

Overall, Merrill believes that they are ready for the competition.

“I think the MV students are very prepared for this competition,” Merrill said. “We have some secrets up our sleeves so I think we will do pretty well, even if we don’t place. It’s only our first year in DECA.”

The final results of each category are as followed:

Automotive Services: senior John Hill placed eighth

Business Finance: senior Callahan Eckardt placed second

Hotel and Lodging Management: senior Lauren Mansfield placed seventh and Walker placed 10th

Marketing Management: senior Hannah Hilton placed seventh

Personal Financial Literacy: junior Hawkeye Mitchell placed sixth

Retail Merchandising: Merrill placed sixth