Ms. Smith, the new business teacher, has come to HC after teaching at Estill County High School. Not only is Smith bringing DECA, a competition based business and marketing club, to HC, she is also transporting her experience in marketing to her students.
“Before I was a teacher I was actually working in marketing,” says Smith. “ I was an account manager [which means] I oversaw social media and website building for different companies and I really loved it. I realized that even though I had a college degree in [marketing] you don’t need a college degree to be successful in [marketing]. It was important to me that I came back into the classroom and was able to teach students why they were in school and how to monetize their skills.”
DECA is a Career and Technical Student Organization Affiliation, which indicates that DECA is attached to the Management and Entrepreneurship pathway course. As a result, DECA will explore the topics discussed in the Management and Entrepreneurship pathway course.
“We compete on subjects that they’re learning in class,” says Smith. “We go to leadership conferences and then we will also compete at the regional, state, and hopefully national level. It’s really cool because [students] are getting leadership skills but they are also getting to test their knowledge on what they learn in class against students who are learning across the country.”
Students participating in DECA will also learn valuable skills that will help them even if they don’t pursue a career in marketing or marketing.
“In DECA, students are going to learn a lot of networking skills,” says Smith. “[DECA] is going to be their opportunity to get out of their school and [into] the community, as well as Kentucky as a whole. [These opportunities include going] into real businesses, field trip opportunities, internship opportunities, and just a lot of applicable experiences from what they’re learning in class.”
The DECA club is an exciting new opportunity at HC with numerous reasons to join. The opportunities are vast and the club is perfect for students looking to make connections.
“It’s so fun,” says Smith. “People should join DECA because it’s fun. It’s a really, really good opportunity if they’re interested in the field of business and marketing at all. This is one of the best things [students] can do in high school because even if [a student doesn’t] want to stay in Lexington they’re going to make connections with people who can help them get jobs and get into colleges.”
If you have any questions about joining DECA see Ms. Smith in room 109 or email her at [email protected].
