Westford Academy competed at Massachusetts DECA’s 61st State Convention from Thursday, February 29th to Saturday, February 29th.

For over ten years, WA DECA has had significant successes at both district, state and international level conventions. WA has the biggest DECA chapter in MA with over 400 members, providing a strong presence at the state competition as they competed in 30 events and have 39 qualifiers for ICDC, DECA’s international conference (USA and Canada), where competitors who achieved top 5 in their events at states compete on the international level.

DECA aims to prepare students for future careers in business through conventions, business roleplays and tests. Members can make it to the state-level competition through the district competition.

“Members pick an event before the district competition and study the material of their event for the test and roleplay about their event. The test is before districts, and students get an hour and a half to complete the test, which is worth one-third of their final districts score. At districts that were at UMASS Lowell this year, you perform your roleplay at the allotted time you are given. The award ceremony is then held, and the top 7 for each event can then move on to States,”freshman state qualifier Krishna Vasiraju said.

With many new members including freshmen joining DECA this school year, among 40% of state qualifiers were first-year DECA members.Freshman Andrew Lin, ICDC National DECA competition qualifier speaks about their first DECA states experience and future progress.

“[DECA States] was a good experience and is a good way to gain 21st-century skills that is needed for future careers. To progress, I will continue to do DECA and train hard,” Lin said.

Senior Allie Lu qualified for the ICDC National competition for her fourth year in a row, an impressive feat. Senior Soumya Vadicharla got 1st place in her accounting event and won 2 scholarships totaling $3,300,

“DECA states was an amazing experience that not only improved my business skills but also increased my confidence. Winning my event and the scholarship was something that totally came out of the blue, but those accomplishments feel great now,” Vadicharla said.

DECA ICDC Nationals will take place from April 29-May 2 in Nashville, Tennessee where internet-famous country artist and yodeler, Mason Ramsey, will perform.

In order to go to the ICDC conference, many qualifiers are currently selling tickets to WA’s Hypnotist Show sponsored by DECA, which is on Friday, March 27th from 7-8:15 pm.

Senior Shelly Singhal is the DECA club’s president and is looking forward to internationals.

“Overall the state competition went very well for WA and we are excited to see how far our qualifiers make it at the international competition this April,” Singhal said.