Release Courtesy: Kylee Peterson, GHS DECA Advisor
The Granbury DECA Chapter competed in the annual Texas DECA State Career & Development Conference February 15th – 17th in Houston. Sixteen Chapter members – the most ever in recent DECA history – competed in nine different events for their chance to earn a coveted seat at the International competition.
Two teams “made stage” at the Grand Awards session. During the awards, DECA calls up the 20 top scoring teams or individuals to the stage in each event category, and then announces the top 10 teams that will be advancing as finalists representing Texas at the International competition. Essentially, both teams ranked overall in the top 20 competitors in the state beating out teams at both the District and State levels. Both are serving as alternates to the advancing finalists.
The first team made up of The Anchor Store Crew members competed in the Project Management Sales Project event. This event is specific to each DECA Chapter on how they raise funds for competition and Chapter events. For the Granbury Chapter, The Anchor Store is the only fundraiser selling snacks, drinks, and apparel in the on-campus store. Team members competed using the business plan they created for the store back in August. They reported on the profits, operations, and project management skills to run the store, and then how those profits are budgeted for DECA. Competing on this team were seniors Braeden Hunt, Austin Pruett, and Kylee Upchurch. This was the third year in a row that Granbury has “made stage” in this event.
The Franchise Business Plan event revolves around a team researching a particular franchise business, collecting finance data, and then presenting an operations plan to open a location. Team members Maddie Cutler, Ryli Lewis, and Anna Quinn researched the business “Drybar” pulling franchise investment data and applying to their location of interest in Lubbock, Texas. In their research, they interviewed managers from the Fort Worth location to collect proprietary information helping them gain an edge in their presentation. This was the first time Granbury had ever competed in this event.
Both teams had to write a 20-page paper over their business plan that had to be turned in for judging prior to competition. Then at the event, they presented to a different judge. Scores were combined from both judges for a final score.
The journey to International does not stop there for the Granbury Chapter! In 2023, The Anchor Store earned their Gold-Level Certification as a School Based Enterprise (SBE) from the national DECA office which is good for five years. This certification is earned by submitting a written 50-page paper covering topics like finance, human resources, and promotion that are applied to a student-led enterprise. Students must also submit documentation of whether they are a food or retail-based enterprise – The Anchor Store is a food-based enterprise with over 80 percent of the products sold being snacks and drinks. Each year, The Anchor must re-submit an updated detailed financial report to stay in good standing with the certification.
At the International competition, two Crew members from the store will attend a special SBE networking session and then will compete against other SBE’s in the food operations category. They will present on operations and finance of the store to earn their spot as of the top SBE’s in the nation.
Another unique opportunity DECA offers to active Chapter members are seats at four various Academies hosted during the competition. Students are invited to attend these three-day conferences to work on leadership, networking, and personal branding skills. Seats at these academies are earned by the Chapter completing challenges set forth by the national office in areas such as growing your membership, promoting the chapter in the community, and completing community service campaigns. Granbury earned six potential seats and is awaiting invitations of acceptance to the academies.
Out of the sixteen that competed at state, for 12 of them it was their first year competing in DECA and none of them had ever been to the state level before. This was also our first year to have freshmen and sophomores compete, several of whom advanced to State.
Granbury also earned it’s first-ever Century Chapter recognition turning in a final roster count of over 100 members. When we revitalized in 2021-2022, we had 16 members. This was a huge accomplishment in just three years!