Business Education & DECA

With over 100 students involved in the DECA club at Pentucket regional Middle High School, the business club has become the most popular after school activity for our high school students but it wasn’t always like that. In fact DECA at Pentucket is still in its infancy and it was just in 2019 when students started participating with less than 10 students. Its growth and popularity with the students is no accident and it is a great story of how intentional alignment of course options for students can be connected to student interest and industry demand to build powerful learning opportunities.  

DECA, with over 300,000 high school students involved annually across the globe, is one of the best known examples of career connected learning for students. The focus on providing students with real life learning that prepares them to be “emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management” is what makes the experience so popular. While it started as an acronym standing for “Distributive Education Clubs of America”, the organization has evolved beyond sales and marketing education and has a focus that is more reflective of the global job market and industry demand for leaders in management, finance and entrepreneurial careers. 

The 2025-2026 DECA Program setting off for the district competitions in December where over 40 students qualified for the State Competition in the spring

Career Preparedness

For Pentucket, participating in the club and going to regional, state and even national competitions is the capstone of the work all year, much of the learning begins in the classroom. 

Ms. Haley Hamltion is the advisor of the club and teaches the majority of the classes offered. Students participate in any of the following:

• Personal Finance

• Investing in the Stock Market

• Introduction to Business

Many of the high school students also enroll in cross subject courses that become applicable to their focus on business education which may include a dual enrollment course with SNHU on Statistics, AP Computer Science courses, Digital Art and Video Production. Even students in 8th grade have the opportunity to take an elective course titled "Introduction to Entrepreneurship" 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that business majors in Massachusetts, like nationwide, find strong demand in finance, tech, and professional services, with high earning potential (>$80k median) and diverse roles from accounting to management. MA is home to several highly respected schools of business in public universities and private and for both undergraduate and graduate studies. Additionally, both high school students and college students in MA can find numerous internships and employment opportunities to learn key industry skills across multiple related fields right here in the Bay State. Our guidance staff is very intentional when working with students to make course selections that help them to explore future career options and interests. 

The entrepreneurship class created their own food truck business and had the high school business classes vote on the best one.

The Stock Market class is an example of how a student can turn a curiosity into a future passion and direction for their career. This year investing students were able to compete in a state competition against other schools in a stock market simulation. They conducted their own research on specific stocks and investment types and were able to watch their stock portfolio change in real time. Several of the students even started a Stock Market club that is almost entirely student run. Junior, Greg Plisinski took the initiative this year and over 20 students meet and compete with each other, handing out monthly prizes for those whose portfolio or picks show the most growth. 

For the students in DECA, they have found both a social connection but also a passion for their future.

“Personal finance helped me learn about important things like Roth IRAs and long-term investing, and it even led to conversations with my family about financial topics we hadn’t talked about before. By being in DECA and taking business classes, I realized I enjoy learning about money and helping others, which is what made me want to major in finance next year to then become a financial advisor” - Matthew Silva, Grade 12

Preparing for Competitions

Students have several options for what type of project or presentation they would like to participate in for the DECA competitions. All of the competitions are organized by four career clusters; marketing, finance, hospitality and management, as well as entrepreneurship and personal financial literacy.

While all the competitions fall into one of the business categories above, there are three different types of competitions that students can prepare for within each of the categories. 

• Role Plays & Case Studies

• Prepared Projects (written papers and presentations)

• Online simulations

Students in the role play events prepare for several months for possible scenarios within their category. The case study events involve a multiple-choice career cluster exam and a role-play or case study is then provided on-site with a judge who evaluates each student’s response and presentation during the role play/case study. Each is organized by industry and career cluster but they include any of the following types of events:

• Principles of Business Administration Events (first year students)

• Individual Series Events

• Team Decision Making Events

• Personal Financial Literacy Event

The prepared events, which are often done in teams, require a written project as well as a prepared presentation. Often the prepared presentation may be a video or some other form of marketing like media based presentation offering different students with different skill sets to be part. These events take months of preparation but are often of topics that have real meaning, interest or connection for students. The possible types of events students and teams can prepare for include:

• Business Operations Research Events

• Project Management Events

• Entrepreneurship Events

• Integrated Marketing Campaign Events

• Professional Selling and Consulting Events

More recently, online simulation events have been added that engage members in online business simulations. Using an online program, members compete against other members in their region to qualify to compete at the international level. Currently students can compete in an online Stock Market Game or a Virtual Business Challenge. 

Watch this short video produced by DECA to show what is involved during a role play event.

With so many options available and within varying in-demand industry career focus areas, one can see why the class and club has grown in popularity. Additionally, the content knowledge and information students need to be competitive at a regional or state level extend well beyond the classroom level and requires students to put in extensive time commitments outside of school to prepare for the competitive events. 

Last spring, three seniors, Aidan Blot, James Nightengale and Luke Zavaski qualified for the National Competition in Orlando, Florida. They are pictured below as they prepared to present their project.

Students waiting to see if they made nationals last year

The Growing Popularity 

Ms. Hamilton describes the quick increase in student participation. -

“My first year as the DECA advisor in 2022, we had 50 students in the club with 9 students qualifying for the state competition. This year we had 132 students in the club with 36 students qualifying for states. The club has not only grown in numbers, but also in students' dedication and excitement.”

DECA students at the club fair

Outreach to students and recruitment has been a major part of the success. While Ms. Hamilton describes how the classes provide a natural recruitment base; she and the student leadership team have found great success in connecting to students who simply have an interest in the competitions but may not have room in their schedules for the classes. 

Students who get involved with DECA do so with a variety of outcomes and paths to participation and success. A key element of DECA is connection to the community which results in community service projects. 

DECA/business students collected and organized donations to donate to local hospitals

What is next?

The business classes and DECA are expected to continue to grow. While the classes are considered electives, there may be future possible options for students to take an advanced business class for dual enrollment college credit. With more students qualifying for state level competitions, they are demonstrating their improved skill but also adjustments after participating in previous years. Building a network of alumni will also help as they share their own success stories. 

Dr. Brent Conway

Assistant Superintendent