Over the last two years, the Harrison High School Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) competed in business tournaments against many of the top high schools in New Jersey. DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs to pursue careers in business. In order to compete, students select a competitive event featuring a variety of topics such as marketing, finance, management and hospitality and tourism.
After selecting their specific event, students meet weekly to practice for the competition. Students gain experience through role-playing in simulated interviews provided by volunteer judges. Role-playing scenarios involve applying for jobs, solving complex business problems and applying their business acumen and critical thinking skills to create presentations in a very short period of time.
The Harrison High School chapter was founded during the 2022-2023 school year by HHS Club Adviser and business instructor Milton Velez. As Velez became acquainted with the diverse population at Harrison High, it became clear that there was a passion for business and entrepreneurship in many of the students.
This realization inspired him to create a chapter of DECA to provide students with the tools needed for pursuing lucrative careers in business.
“Many students in my classes said they dreamed of one day owning a successful small business and I wanted the DECA Business Club to be a vehicle to begin that journey for them,” Velez said.
In January, after months of preparation, students successfully competed in a district tournament at Kean University, with more than 1,000 other participants. Harrison’s Pardhav Chakka earned individual awards for his performance in his event.
This win earned Pardhav an invite to the DECA state tournament in Atlantic City in March. Over 4,500 of Jersey’s best high school business students attended. These students competed for a chance to attend DECA’s international tournament in April.
Despite the long odds and formidable competition, Pardhav qualified for the final round of competition, after earning individual awards for one of his competitive events. After hours of anxious anticipation, Pardhav received the coveted invitation to attend the DECA I.C.D.C. Tournament in Anaheim, California.
The DECA I.C.D.C. tournament was attended by over 19,000 students from all over the world, breaking the attendance records from previous years.
“The DECA Business Club and the Harrison High School community are proud of Pardhav’s accomplishments, which are a testament to his dedication and hard work,” Velez said.
Moving forward, the HHS Deca Club will build on this success by introducing more opportunities, enriching the lives of members and helping them build a solid foundation for their future. When asked about how the DECA Club has impacted his life, Pardhav said: “The DECA Club has taken me on an amazing journey and has helped me develop my communication skills. It’s given me the confidence needed to perform well in a job interview.”
To suceessfully continue, the HHS DECA club is calling on the Harrison community to help judge the students’ simulated interviews at future tournaments. Without judge volunteers, the HHS DECA will be unable to compete, depriving students of the essential tools necessary for their future in the highly competitive business world.
Any members of the Harrison community who want to support the club may do so by volunteering to be a judge at one of the tournaments. Judges must be over the age of 21 and have business experience. Interested volunteers are asked to please contact Velez by email at milton.velez@staff.harrisonschools.org.
Those interested in following the happenings of the Harrison DECA Business club may follow it on Instagram at @deca_hhs.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.