DECA Ontario
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DECA Ontario (An association of DECA Inc.) is a Provincial association of high school, university students and advisers of business studies. The organization's purpose is to prepare future leaders and young entrepreneurs for careers and education in marketing, finance, hospitality, management, and other business areas. Similarly to DECA Inc., DECA Ontario has three primary divisions: the high school division (known simply as "DECA Ontario"), the university/college division (DECA U), and the alumni division (The Alumni Network). DECA Ontario, students are mentored by some of the strongest leaders in the business fields and are guided by numerous supportive corporate and community sponsors to provide 'out-of-classroom' experiences. In Ontario, DECA is also an identified component of the Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program. Through experiential programming, students are given many reach ahead opportunities that they can apply to their SHSM designation on their OSSD (Ontario Secondary School Diploma).
Conferences
The Regional Competition is available to all DECA Ontario members. In order to accommodate the needs of all chapters across the Province, different school chapters compete in different 'regions'. Some of these regions include: Peel, Toronto, Hamilton, Waterloo-Kitchener, and York.
DECA members can choose to compete in any one of a number of categories: there are 17 individual event categories (of which 4 are reserved only for first year members), and 7 team events. The Regional Competition includes a written multiple choice exam, and an oral case component. Students in an individual event have 10 minutes for preparation and 10 minutes to present in front of a judge. Teams have 30 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to present. Judges include past DECA alumni, current business students, and industry professionals.
The Provincial Competition (hosted in February) is available to members who qualify from an oral business event at a Regional Competition, or for those who chose to compete in a written business event (students who wish to compete in a written business event automatically qualify for the Provincial Competition). In the Provincial Competition, students compete for a spot to represent Ontario and Canada at the International Career Development Conference (DECA Internationals). Competition at the Provincial level is heavy, as around 300-400 students out of about 6,000 are chosen to compete internationally. In addition to competing, the Provincial conference also offers workshops, academies, and networking for students wishing to advance their business skills.
Competition Categories
DECA offers a large variety of categories available to all delegates for competition purposes. These categories range encompass a plethora of functional business aspects and typically have corporate sponsors for each category as well. There are three different types of categories once can compete in which includes (1) Individual Oral and Principle Events - must compete as an individual (2) Team Oral Events - compete with one partner and finally (3) Special Events - these events have their own distinct rule set. A breakdown of the categories within each type of event is shown below:
Individual Oral and Principle Events
- Accounting Application
- Apparel and Accessories Marketing
- Automotive Services Marketing
- Business Finance Series
- Business Services Marketing
- Food Marketing Series
- Hotel and Lodging Management
- Human Resources Management
- Marketing Management
- Personal Financial Literacy
- Quick Serve Restaurant Management
- Restaurant and Food Service Management
- Retail Merchandising
- Sports and Entertainment Marketing
- Principles of Business Administration and Management
- Principles of Marketing
- Principles of Hospitality and Tourism
- Principles of Finance
Team Oral Events
- Business Law and Ethics
- Buying and Merchandising
- Financial Analysis
- Hospitality Services
- Marketing Communications Team Decision Making
- Sports and Entertainment Marketing
- Travel and Tourism Marketing
Special Events
- Advertising Campaign
- Business Law and Ethics
- Buying and Merchandising
- Case Boss
- Financial Analysis
- Hospitality Services
- Innovation Challenge
- Marketing Communications Team Decision Making
- Professional Selling Event
- Sports and Entertainment Marketing
- Travel and Tourism Marketing
- Virtual Business Challenge Retail
- Virtual Business Challenge Sports
- Leadership Development Academy
- Stock Market Game
- H&R Block Dollars and Sense
- Virtual Business Challenge Restaurant
Provincial Executive Officer Program (High School Division)
DECA Ontario's Provincial Executive Officer Team consists of one President and seven student executives. A new team of officers is appointed every year. The Provincial Executive Officer Team works with DECA Ontario's Board of Directors with membership development and services, website development, social media management, Regional & Provincial conference promotion, member and chapter encouragement, and service of the members and advisors. The selection process for the Provincial Executive Officer Team is rigorous, as numerous students compete for a limited number of positions. Provincial Officers are among the top students across Ontario, and often demonstrate excellence in academics, extra-curricular involvements, and achieve high results in DECA.
| Year | Position | Officer | High School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-2019 | President | Maria Diogenous | Glenview Park Secondary School |
| 2018-2019 | Secretary | Jensen Pletch | Centre Wellington District High School |
| 2018-2019 | Branding and Communications Officer | Bill Le | Blyth Academy Waterloo |
| 2018-2019 | Events Coordinator | Yash Gajaria | Rick Hansen Secondary School |
| 2018-2019 | Media Coordinator | Keshav Chawla | Markville Secondary School |
| 2018-2019 | Chapter Development Officer | Matthew Wilson | Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute |
| 2018-2019 | Chapter Development Officer | Vyoma Fadia | Earl Haig Secondary School |
| Year | Position | Officer | High School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-2018 | President | Jinwu Liu | Bayview Secondary School |
| 2017-2018 | Secretary | Vyoma Fadia | Earl Haig SS |
| 2017-2018 | Media Coordinator | James Quinlan | Woburn CI |
| 2017-2018 | Events Coordinator | Maria Diogenous | Glenview Park SS |
| 2017-2018 | Chapter Liaison Officer | Adam Dorfman | Thornhill SS |
| 2017-2018 | Chapter Liaison Officer | Harry Chen | London Central SS |
| 2017-2018 | Branding and Communications Coordinator | Sarina Wong | The University of Toronto Schools |
| Year | Position | Officer | High School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–2017 | President | Venia Veselovsky | Westdale SS |
| 2016–2017 | Secretary | Anna Shinn | Havergal College |
| 2016–2017 | Media Coordinator | Jessica Fung | Marc Garneau CI |
| 2016–2017 | Events Coordinator | Shangbing Jiang | Bloor CI |
| 2016–2017 | Events Coordinator | Lucy Chen | William Lyon Mackenzie CI |
| 2016–2017 | Chapter Liaison Officer | Ben Levy | Thornhill SS |
| 2016–2017 | Chapter Liaison Officer | Rahul Bathija | John Fraser SS |
| 2016–2017 | Branding and Communications Coordinator | Rishi Bansal | Bayview Secondary School |
| Year | Position | Officer | High School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–2016 | President | Emily Fraser | Sir John A. Macdonald (Waterloo) |
| 2015–2016 | Secretary | Wendy Wei | Centennial CVI |
| 2015–2016 | Media Coordinator | Mark Laufert | Centennial CVI |
| 2015–2016 | Co-Events Coordinator | Rushi Gajaria | Gordon Graydon Memorial SS |
| 2015–2016 | Co-Events Coordinator | Ann Chen | Victoria Park CI |
| 2015–2016 | Chapter Liaison Officer | Karim El Sewedy | Abbey Park High School |
| 2015–2016 | Chapter Liaison Officer | Graham Swarbrick | Resurrection CSS |
| 2015–2016 | Branding and Communications Coordinator | Christian Cutts | Parkdale Collegiate |
| Year | Position | Officer | High School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014–2015 | President | Jeff Sheng | Markville SS |
| 2014–2015 | Secretary | Laura Fong | The Woodlands School |
| 2014–2015 | Media Coordinator | Heather Tang | The University of Toronto Schools |
| 2014–2015 | Co-Events Coordinator | Peter Drivas | East York CI |
| 2014–2015 | Co-Events Coordinator | Sarai Castrejon | St. Aloysius Gonzaga |
| 2014–2015 | Chapter Development Officer | Emily Fraser | Sir John A. Macdonald (Waterloo) |
| 2014–2015 | Chapter Development Officer | Lucy Gong | Markville SS |
| 2014–2015 | Branding and Communications Coordinator | Alex Wu | Northern SS |
| Year | Position | Officer | High School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013–2014 | President | Jerry Zhang | Bayview Secondary School |
| 2013–2014 | Secretary | Katie Rieger | Bluevale CI |
| 2013–2014 | Media Coordinator | Jake Jardine | Parkside High School |
| 2013–2014 | Co-Events Coordinator | Rida Aamer | Glenforest SS |
| 2013–2014 | Co-Events Coordinator | Harman Jassal | Turner Fenton SS |
| 2013–2014 | Chapter Development Officer | Anthony Perreira | St. Roch SS |
| 2013–2014 | Chapter Development Officer | Cassidy Ishmael | St. Francis Xavier SS |
| 2013–2014 | Branding and Communications Coordinator | Brett Israel | Resurrection Catholic SS |
| Year | Position | Officer | High School | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012–2013 | President | James Sun | Earl Haig SS | |
| 2012–2013 | Secretary | Mariam Rafo | Notre Dame SS | |
| 2012–2013 | Co-Events Coordinator | Isabella Chiu | UTS | |
| 2012–2013 | Co-Events Coordinator | Sarah Liu | UTS | |
| 2012–2013 | Chapter Development Officer | Jack Fenton | Bayview Glen | |
| 2012–2013 | Chapter Development Officer | Katie Flanagan | Sir John A Macdonald SS | |
| 2012–2013 | Chapter Development Officer | Andrew Shon | Earl Haig SS | |
| 2012–2013 | Public Relations/Communication Officer | Jerry Zhang | Bayview Secondary School | |
| 2012–2013 | Reporter | Jake Jardine | Parkside HS |
| Year | Position | Officer | High School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–2011 | President | Nida Noorani | UTS |
| 2010–2011 | Communications/Public Relations Officer | Lori Ossip | TanenbaumCHAT Wallenberg |
| 2010–2011 | Events Coordinator | Kathy Zhang | Bayview SS |
| 2010–2011 | Secretary | Ritu Parikh | Turner Fenton SS |
| 2010–2011 | Reporter | Abeeha Batool | Father Michael Goetz Catholic SS |
| 2010–2011 | Regional Representative | Kevin Wong | Vaughan SS |
| 2010–2011 | Regional Representative | Carter Grant | St Marguerite d'Youville SS |
DECA U (University/College Division)
For interested university/college students, a specialized program which allows matriculated students to continue to participate in DECA is available. DECA U (short for University), is an association of Collegiate DECA, and operates in numerous prestigious institutions across Ontario.
Some of the associated Universities include: Ryerson University, University of Western Ontario, Brock University, University of Guelph, Wilfrid Laurier University, McMaster University, Queen's University, University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, York University, University of Ottawa, Humber College and University of Ontario Institute of Technology.
The Alumni Network (Alumni Division)
In 2013, The Alumni Network was created to serve as Ontario's Official DECA Alumni Division. The division seeks to harvest a strong professional network for previous DECA Ontario and DECA U members to connect to after graduating. The network is designed to not only allow alumni to connect to each other, but also to provide opportunities for alumni to give back at DECA Ontario and DECA U conferences and competitions.
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