Marketing students make their mark in and out of New Jersey.
By: Joseph Harvie
MONROE They are on the move.
From central to southern New Jersey from Orlando, Fla., to Nashville, Tenn., members of the Monroe Township High School chapter of Distributive Education Clubs of America are on the move.
On Monday, just two days before 18 students from DECA, an association of marketing students and teachers, headed to Florida for a sports marketing conference hosted by Universal Studios, three DECA students and their advisor recalled some of the achievements the group has accomplished this school year.
Monroe Township High School had 50 students participating in various events at the Central Jersey Regional DECA camp.
Since 16 students placed in the top three positions at the Central Jersey Regional DECA conference in January, those students, plus two of their classmates who have been working on a special project, are headed to the state competition in Cherry Hill on Feb. 23 and 24.
At the competitions the students must take a 100-question test and perform a role play with DECA judges based on the categories they entered. These include Full Service Restaurant Marketing and Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making.
"The test is not easy," said Deborah Stapenski, DECA advisor and marketing teacher at Monroe Township High School. "The students work really hard at these events."
Two students got to bypass the regional competition and will head directly to Cherry Hill to present a special project there.
Seniors Bobby Bartocci, 18, and Frank Senatore, 18, have been working on a Civic Consciousness project since September. The project included raising money for a charity and a 30-page essay detailing how the students began the project and describing the fund raisers they held to obtain the money, Frank said.
"We raised money for a charity, Heifer International, which feeds starving people worldwide," Bobby said. "Our biggest fund raiser was the car show we had in October."
There were 51 cars at the show in which all of the members of DECA were involved and the event helped to spur the project.
"We also had a table at Octoberfest where we did spin art and we’ve also been asking for donations since the project began," Bobby said.
The project will be judged on two levels. Seventy percent of the score will come from the paper and 30 percent from the presentation.
The pair has raised $1,263 since September and is still in the process of raising money.
The students are planning a shamrock sale for St. Patrick’s Day in March, where they would sell cut-outs of shamrocks and place student’s names on it for a donation.
Senior Katelyn Tyrrell, 17, also will be at the state competition in February to compete in the Full Service Restaurant Marketing section. She placed first in this category at the Central Jersey Regional Conference.
During her role play at the competition Katelyn became a restaurant manager and was faced with the issue of employees snacking during work hours.
"My idea was to feed the employees before lunch to keep costs from rising," Katelyn said.
"There is a set of criteria that you must meet to do well in the role play and as long as you cover all of the points you will pass."
Katelyn also will be at the DECA International Conference in Nashville in May because of her role as New Jersey Central Region vice president of DECA.
"As vice president I help run and plan the New Jersey state conference where there are usually 3,000 students," Katelyn said. "I also helped to hand out awards and trophies at the regional conference."
Katelyn will be accompanied by two of her fellow students, juniors Shannon Brown and Alison Baumlin. The pair of students worked on a state civic project titled "F2." The project helped raise money for cancer research.
"They worked on ‘Finding a Cure for Cancer’ and they had to write a manual describing what they were raising money for and they were required to raise of minimum of $200 for a charity. We raised $500," Ms. Stapenski said.
Ms. Stapenski is very proud of her DECA students.
"I brag about these kids," Ms. Stapenski said. "They work hard at what they do." Ms. Stapenski said.
The Monroe Township High School DECA team has also achieved something no other high school in New Jersey has, Ms. Stapenski said.
"We received an award for achieving the highest level of membership in DECA. We are the only chapter in New Jersey to do this for all five years," Ms. Stapenski said.
She is also proud that 16 students in her chapter have advanced from the regional contest to the states.
"Usually about one-third of my students make it to states from the regional competition," Ms. Stapenski said. "We usually have students enter directly to the state competition."
As the group remains in motion across the country, Ms. Stapenski hopes that her student’s hard work will pay off.
"DECA is co-curricular, and we try to encourage all of our marketing students to join," Ms. Stapenski said. "Most major businesses are partners with DECA, which makes it a great opportunity to receive scholarships."