On April 8, Sidwell’s Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) club hosted its first in-school competition to determine attendees for the prestigious International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in 2025. The ICDC, which will be held in California in April 2025, includes traditional competitions, exhibitions of college and career pathways, leadership skill development sessions and more.
Over the summer, juniors Misha Ovcharenko and Zachary Foxx and sophomores Hani Garside, Osewe Ogada and Ethan Huang organized a DECA chapter at Sidwell.
“DECA’s aim is to offer those interested in business and finance the opportunity to foster their understanding surrounding them; and moreover, to equip them with the confidence necessary to advocate for issues or ideas that resonate with them throughout all parts of their lives,” said DECA co-head and sophomore Osewe Ogada. “Lastly, DECA seeks to make learning fun through its competitive aspect.”
After working with Sidwell administrators, the chapter hosted its first interest meeting in January, but due to the delayed start date, the Sidwell DECA chapter was ineligible for the 2024 ICDC.
Although disappointed by the news, the DECA heads saw the delay as an opportunity to foster improved participation — through intra-school competitions — before Sidwell registered for interscholastic competitions in the 2024-2025 school year. The first of these competitions, held on April 8, consisted of 12 competitors, with a prize of $100 and priority consideration to attend the 2025 ICDC.
For this competition, the theme was “marketing,” and each team was given a universal prompt and a hypothetical situation they might face as marketing managers at a company. They were then tasked to present an overview of the problem, outline their solutions and answer any follow-up hypothetical questions as to what they may do in certain cases. Teams were judged on their understanding of the situation, their clarity in outlining both the problem and the solution, their creativity and their responses to the questions asked after presenting their solutions.
Before the competition, sophomore Ivaylo Guenov and his group collaborated to prepare responses to potential questions.
Sophomore Zoe Shrank added that she and her partner, sophomore Faris Price, spent over three hours preparing for the competition with practice videos, presentations of past winners and business and economic research. Although Shrank explained that they may have overprepared in some areas, she found it worth it since she and her partner earned first place in the competition. “You could see [we] put in the most time there,” said Shrank.
Guenov explained that while his group was strong, they could have won if they had put in more effort. “Some groups were just more prepared,” he acknowledged.
Foxx saw the first competition as a major success, as he and the other DECA heads were able to gather a good understanding of the effort members were willing to put into the club. Garside added that the intra-school competition was a great first step in establishing a loyal membership to DECA and a hopeful sign for future success.
