A group of business students from St. Anne Catholic High School feel ready to take on the world of business after participating in a program designed to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.

“As someone who wants to pursue business as a career, I found my involvement in DECA very enlightening,” said Zachary Stacey, who along with 15 fellow St. Anne students recently traveled to Toronto for the  40th provincial championships of the Demonstrating Excellence, Celebrating Achievement organization. “I feel more confident knowing I can apply the strategies I learned when networking with others in my future endeavours.”  

St. Anne’s business teacher, Mrs. Goggins, started the school’s DECA chapter and joined DECA Ontario this past fall.

DECA helps young business students learn how to network and build connections to facilitate their future business or entrepreneurship aspirations.  It provides a comprehensive leadership program empowering members to provide effective leadership through goal setting, consensus building, project implementation and competition by integrating classroom instruction with applied learning and connections to business.It currently has more than 15,000 members and more than 300 chapters around the world.

Team members were introduced to the program through a Dale Carnegie Leadership seminar based on self-improvement, salesmanship, leadership, public speaking, and interpersonal skills needed for university and college business programs. DECA team members were able to model and role play everyday business situations - a key element of their preparation for regional and provincial competition.

The St. Anne’s DECA chapter will now be eligible to compete regionally, provincially and potentially qualify for future DECA world championships which are held in Orlando, Florida. DECA is open to all students in all grade levels seeking to develop confidence, independence and networking opportunities.