Over 350 DECA students gathered at Lansing on Tuesday, Oct. 11 for the first DECA competition of the year. Thirty-one of these students were from Mill Valley.

DECA, which stands for Distributive Education Clubs of America, is an business extracurricular, focusing on preparing students for careers in marketing, finance and management. Events at DECA competitions aim to strengthen students in these three areas.

The DECA students practiced with one another in order to prepare for their first competition, according to Vice President of finance junior John States.

“We held a workshop after school and during seminar [about a] week [ago],” States said. “We did some practice interviews, some practice roleplays and some practice tests just to get a little taste of [what the competition would be like].”

Although they prepared, getting exposure by participating in the competitions is the best way to get better at one’s specific event.

“Nothing can really prepare you for the first time, you can just practice and practice cause they change the role plays and tests every year,” States said. “It’s just the experience [that prepares you].”

Senior Sydney Hookstra, who is undergoing her second year on DECA, agrees.

“I had a much stronger start than last year, which is really good,” Hookstra said. “I improved my scores from my last competition so I think I did pretty well.”

Overall, DECA provides great skills that will benefit students later in life.

“I think it’s important because it teaches young people how to be in an interview setting and sell themselves, their personality and [their] item,” Hookstra said. “It [helps] with people skills because a lot of people get nervous, so if you have a lot of practice in the business setting it prepares you for the real world.”

The next DECA competition will be Thursday, Nov. 10 at Blue Valley.

The final results of each category are as followed:

Accounting Applications: senior Justin Heit placed fifth

Apparel and Accessories Marketing: sophomore Abby Layton placed fifth, junior Lauren Ocker placed seventh, junior Alexa Horton placed 10th and junior Haley Harvey placed 15th

Automotive Services Marketing: senior Jack Campbell placed fourth and senior Jakob Coacher placed seventh

Business Finance: junior Mitchell Dervin placed sixth

Hotel and Lodging Management: senior Garrison Fangman placed 11th

Human Resources Management: junior Brady Watkins placed seventh, States placed eighth and junior Shayne Howell ninth

Marketing Communications: junior Jackson Drees placed seventh and junior Emma Tibbetts placed 13th

Personal Financial Literacy: senior Ethan Hansen placed second, junior Dante Peterson placed third and junior Gage Miller placed fifth

Principles of Business Management and Administration: sophomore Caroline Rutledge placed third

Principles of Finance: sophomore Seth Hobson placed first, sophomore Sam Dufort placed second and senior Cam Ingram placed third

Principles of Hospitality and Tourism: junior Maci Montee placed fifth

Principles of Marketing: sophomore Zach Steiger placed 16th, junior Benjamin Weigel placed 19th, senior Jack Cooper placed 24th and junior Anna Kerstetter placed 25th

Restaurant and Food Service Management: senior Tyler Ciston placed 10th

Retail Merchandising: Hookstra placed second and junior Hailey Stelle placed eighth

Sports and Entertainment Marketing: junior Aly Tennis placed 10th and senior Hunter Paxton placed 11th