by Will Morton
As a student at O'Dea, more likely than not you have heard about DECA. I interviewed DECA leader Adam Kloeppel '25. Kloeppel stated that "DECA is essentially a business club where you or your group choose a category like Sports Marketing and give a presentation on it based on a situation, they give you." He added, "it's a fun experience and you get to do a lot more than just school related activities." One thing I questioned him about is what does DECA stand for and shockingly, "DECA does not stand for anything, but it does give people easy opportunities to meet smart, successful people who share a business interest," he said.
I asked Kloeppel what skills DECA gives us for the real world, and he stated that DECA teaches you important abilities like eye contact and better conversation skills. "Now commitment wise, the club does not meet that often, we have only had one meeting and we will have around 5 more before our first competition."
I asked Kloeppel to explain anything he wants to add about DECA, and he said, "one unique thing about DECA is that you get out what you put in and most of the preparing you do is on your own time." He went on to say that "DECA can take you further than you would think through the people you meet; experience you gain and skills you learn although it's your decision to get there."
Getting on a more personal level, I asked him how long he has been in DECA, and he responded, "I have been in DECA since it's foundation, but since the club is still very young, this is only my third year." My favorite memory was probably last year during the state tournament, when we had about 8 people playing poker in one of the rooms. It was really cool to just hang out and have fun while also being at an event of that magnitude. Experiences like this and many others are unique to DECA and a perfect way to get more involved at O'Dea.
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