22 DECA students are in downtown Dallas through Saturday for the Texas DECA State Career Development Conference where they are competing dozens of different events.

“I feel like it’s a great experience,” DECA co-sponsor, science teacher Kristen Newton said. “The real world experiences [students] are getting in these competitions is invaluable and [they] get to meet so many people which is always awesome and helpful to make [them] a more well-rounded person.”

Since advancing to state, the students have been preparing in categories such as marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.

“Over the weekend, when I had time, I looked up the performance indicators and I studied from a textbook based on my event,” junior Judi Zhou said. “I just hope to do my best so that I don’t have regrets on how I did during the role plays, and then other than that, if I don’t make it, it’s fine.”

Saturday is the closing ceremony and it’s when DECA students find out who advances to the International Career Development Conference in Orlando April 27-30, 2019.

“I’m looking forward to seeing many of [them] going to ICDC,” DECA co-sponsor, Spanish teacher Patricia Flores said. “It’s wonderful because [students] can network and just get to know other people.”