T.H.S. DECA
Meetings: Thursdays after school From 1:45 - 2:30 P.M.
Advisor: Lynne Bridge, MBA, MS.Ed. (THS Business Education Teacher)
Tolland High School’s business club is continuing its strong presence both in the high school community and at the state level. Affiliated with the internationally known DECA organization, the Tolland High School chapter joins 5,000 chapters and over 200,000 high school students around the globe.
The international DECA organization is committed to preparing emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA members can begin their participation in the high school division as early as the ninth grade and continue through their college years.
Tolland High School’s DECA chapter currently has over 80 members hard at work incorporating their newly acquired business skills into real life scenarios through role plays, community-based interaction, and state-wide competitions.
Members participate in weekly meetings, attend the state-wide leadership conference, and utilize their business skills to create and implement events at Tolland High School. All DECA members can choose to compete at the state-wide DECA competition to earn the right to represent Connecticut at the International DECA Competition held each spring.
Chapter officers plan, organize, and lead the weekly meetings and have the opportunity to further develop their leadership skills at the National DECA Power Trip Conference held each fall.
ACTIVITIES:
Community Service Projects - as a group, DECA members plan, organize, and implement a variety of community service projects that engage and motivate the entire school population for the benefit of a common goal. Students have hosted events supporting Feeding Children Everywhere, American Cancer Society (Relay for Life), Operation Gratitude (benefiting military personnel), and the World Wildlife Organization. Together we have raised over $44,000 to date.
T.H.Shark Tank - encourages students to pitch original business plans to a panel of judges as they competed for “startup” money.
Badminton/Volleyball Tournament - Students organized, promoted, and successfully ran a student body Volleyball Tournament as a fundraiser to defray competition expenses.
THS Alumni Night - This fun event brought back college business students to share their college experiences in regards to business majors, internships, and things to do now in high school to best prepare for college and a career.
Johnson and Wales Competition Preparation - representatives from Johnson and Wales University worked with DECA students to help prepare them to stand out at competition.
COMPETITION:
This collection of experiences enables THS students to confidently enter the annual DECA Connecticut State Competition. With over 30 high schools and close to 1200 students competing in 40 different events, Tolland High School continues to excel. Several of our students each year qualify to compete at the International DECA Competition. At the international competition, these students can expect to compete against 15,000 high school students from around the world in a variety of business oriented events as well as be exposed to over 1000 corporate mentors.