DECA (C+S)

Time per session 45 minutes per meeting
How often

One general meeting and one officers

meeting per week

Activity Duration

 1 Year (11/09/2016 Start)

Reflections

Once a month

Download
Office Lens 20161021-121659.jpg
JPG Image 285.1 KB
Download
Office Lens 20161021-121722.jpg
JPG Image 254.4 KB

Activity Short Description:

By being the President of Spain DECA, I will have to transmit the DECA values that are based on business to my members. I will direct all  activities from logistics to fundraising and will be responsible for the organization's actions. In order to be successful at this, I will have to develop ideas and solutions to problems that we encounter. Apart from that, I will give all that I have with no benefit to prepare members for the competition they will be attending, DECA ICDC, and for their future.  

Personal Goal for the Activity:

What I want to accomplish by being president at our school's DECA chapter is to smoothly manage all aspects of our organization and to prepare members for their competition. I will know if I have completed my objectives if members get an average better grades than last year in the competition. 

Anticipated Learning Outcomes:

2. Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process:

By being president of an organization, I will have to undergo many challenges with responsibilities. Many situations will be hard to face, but at least, new skills wil be developed in order to not face the same problems again.

 

Reflections

September

I was looking forward to begin my second year as the American School of Bilbao DECA Chapter's President. This is my second year, and now that I have the experience, I believe the organization will run a lot more smoothly. I think it has even been noticed in this first month. The first weeks of September were crucial to plan the whole year and to plan the first general meeting. At the end of the month, we had our first introductory meeting where we met our new excited member. It was shocking to shocking to see so many people (about 30 people) when last year there were only about 10 active members. That meeting and the following went great, seeing engament from the members. The people willing to attend the International Career Development Conference at the end of April already chose the category the wanted to participate in; and the first snacks were handed out to the member for fundraising. Only 4 weeks have passed but I can notice that this is going to be the best year of school DECA chapter has ever had. 


October

This month's meetings were focused on creating an organized action plan for the year. On the first meeting, we discussed the fundraising of the organization and gave snacks to the members who did not get them at the end of September. It was also announced to the members that their project's first outline should be complete by the end of the month, including members who will not attend the conference. 

 

Another key aspect covered during this month was the selection of two vacant officer positions: the Vice-president of Leadership, and the Vice-President of Hospitality. Only three members run for office. The three came very prepared and it was a hard choice to make with the help of the advisor and the other officers. Finally, we selected the two candidates. I am eager to work with the new officers and I believe they will contribute a lot to the development of this fairly new organization in our school.


November

On the first week of November, the DECA Idea Challenge mystery item was unveiled. Last year, it was carboard and we turned out to be global finalists! This year it was plastic bottles. We had one whole week to come up with a new use to the material, to make a prototype, and to make a 3 minute video with explanations. I teammed up with my old DECA mates Jorge and Alexandra and we decided to develop a system of irrigation for plants, targeted to places with little rainfall. I am very happy with our collaborative work and I think we even did it better than last year. Who knows, we might turn out to be the global winners! 

 

Apart from the Challenge, the meetings were held as usual, mainly focusing on the development of the participants' written entries. They will need to submit their first draft for the first week of December, and I thought on giving members time to work on that so that the officers can help them too. I am now looking forward to beginning to plan the trip to DECA ICDC!


December

This month was quite short, as we only were able to hold one general member's meeting and one officer's meeting. This is because there was a long weeked at the start of the month, there was a Christmas concert organized by the school on a Wednesday, and the Winter Break also came quite early.

 

As a result of this inactivity, the focus for the only meeting was to make sure the members hardly worked on their project during the break. It is crucial for them to end with their written entry as soon as possible so that they can start practicing their presentations. I have gone to DECA ICDC twice, and I know the feeling on not knowing your presentation as well you would like to; it is quite fustrating. 

 

As soon as we come back next month, I will make sure that the trip will be organized. It is a tough and long process, so we need to start now.


January

This month, we only had two general meetings and another two officer meetings due to the Christmas Break. During these two meetings, we discussed about fundraising and about a project we are going to embark on.

 

This project is called "ASB Shark Tank". This will be an event in which the popular American show Shark Tank will be simulated. In this event, the participants will have to think about an invention or innovation and present it to a board of judges, which will double up as fake investors. 

 

During this month's meeting, I handed out some sheets for inspiration and we discussed the upcoming Saint Valentine's Day fundraising event. We have not still decided what type of event we will organize. Next month, we will finalize the fundraising organizing and the members will start to practice their presentations for the trip.


February

I have to say that this month was one of the most productive so far. On our first meeting of the month, we decided to focus finalizing the organizing of the Saint Valentine's fundraising event. This event was a total success, selling lots of food and having great collaboration from all of the members. As a result of the hard work that day and throughout the year, we decided we would host a Pizza Party for all members during the third general meeting. 

 

On the second meeting, we planned our future actions regarding the shirts and pins that the member will take to the Deca International Career Development Conference. During this meeting, we have finally come up with a design for both and have decided to order them next month. More over, I also reminded the members that they need to start working on their presentations already.

 

On the last meeting, we held the pizza party; which was great. I feel like the members of DECA are now a big family, and I think they will have a great experience in Los Angeles. 


March

This month, our DECA members were headed to Los Angeles California for the DECA International Career Development Conference. It is the 4th year our school attends this event with 18,000 students from all over the United States and the World. I went there for the last two years but decided to stay in school studying this year so that I could focus on preparing my members better for the competition.

 

During the weeks prior to the trip, I along with the officers gave the members some presentation on how their experience will be and how to preprare in the moments prior to their test or pitches. I am very excited to hear from their successes!


April

Our members came back from the trip and we were communicated that they had an amazing experience. They had lots of fun and competed at a high level. Some of them even received awards! 

 

Now that the trip is over, the DECA Club needs to start preparing the next year and therefore an introductory meeting for new members will need to be held. This is therefore my last month as the DECA President and I am very sad to go! It has been a great experience to be around such amazing people and to live such fulfilling experience. I hope the best to future DECA members.