USU Students Compete at National DECA Competition

By Steve Larson

A group of ten students recently represented the Huntsman School of Business at a national DECA competition in Orlando, Florida. All of the students qualified for the national competition by placing in the top six at the state competition held in February.

The national competition included students from across the US. Six of the ten USU Huntsman students qualified as finalists in their events by placing in the top 10. Two of the students, Dallin Malm and Matthew Swink, were awarded 2nd place in the International Marketing Competition.

DECA is a student organization with more than 215,000 members around the world. DECA’s goal is to help the next generation become responsible, community-oriented, and experienced leaders. To accomplish this goal, DECA provides students authentic, experiential learning opportunities to prepare college members for their future careers. These opportunities augment the traditional classroom environment with project-based activities that require students to push themselves and create practical solutions to real-world problems. Professor Alex Romney, the faculty advisor to USU’s DECA student club, explained, “Our students’ engagement in DECA provides them a rich education in effective decision making. Common across all of the events students compete in is the requirement to make decisions in ambiguous and complex situations, which in my mind is an integral aspect of leadership.” 

The students say the competition was a great experience. According to Dallin Malm, “With a case study to solve and a presentation to be organized, Matt (Swink) and I explored new ideas and methods to satisfy real-world problems. There was no pressure or stress, it was simply fun and invigorating. Many times, our most bizarre idea (with a little work) finished as our best.”

You can read more about USU DECA here: https://huntsman.usu.edu/clubs/deca.