Hickman students compete in 'World Series' of marketing challenges

DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) competitions are a lot like baseball. As part of a national association that helps prepare high school students for careers in marketing, business, finance, hospitality and management, team members practice hard and move up from one base to another until they reach home plate.
Two recent Hickman High School graduates, Adam Kidwell and Sara Sabulsky, made the business and marketing big leagues in May. They earned Top 10 Honors in their financial team analysis category at DECA’s International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Fla., where more than 15,000 college and high school students competed.

“We did what we had to do, and it definitely paid off,” said Sabulsky, who will attend Missouri State University in the fall and major in advertising and marketing. “Being a finalist was one of the coolest things.”
More than 9,100 high school students are a part of Missouri DECA, which is the sixth largest state association in the country. In Columbia, both Hickman and Rock Bridge high schools participate in DECA and have approximately 60 students in each chapter. The two high school chapters help make up District 2, which also includes Mexico, Moberly, Fulton, Brookfield, Hannibal and Scotland and Putnam counties. The University of Missouri and Columbia College have collegiate DECA chapters.
Scott Fuenfhausen, who is employed through the Columbia Area Career Center, has been the DECA adviser for both high schools for six years. Known to his students as “Mr. Fin,” he teaches marketing, marketing store management, sports and entertainment marketing and advertising and promotion classes.
In preparation for the competitions, practice makes all the difference. Fuenfhausen gives his students sample exams and role-plays so they are ready for district, state and eventually ICDC competitions. The students can take experiences from their jobs and advice from conference speakers and apply them to the competition.
Fuenfhausen described ICDC as a “World Series,” where top students go head to head. “They want to prove that they know more than the next person, and that’s what makes it fun,” he said.
There are two parts to the DECA competitions. The first is a timed marketing exam, which tests students on basic marketing concepts they learned in their classes. The second part is a role-play, where the students — either individually or as a team — are given a situation and take on imaginary roles such as managers, Web developers, financial analysts, bank tellers and customer service representatives.
As a team in role-playing, the students must come up with a solution to a case study and answer seven questions in half an hour. An individual student has five questions to answer and has 10 minutes to find a solution. When time is up, students present their solutions to the judge, who acts as the head of a company or organization. The students apply their marketing knowledge and communication skills into the role-plays, and the final score is determined from the results of the exam and presentation.
Fuenfhausen said DECA opens students’ eyes to the world of marketing because there are so many aspects of it that are applicable to their lives; DECA members compete to get to the top of their game and along the way learn real-world tools they can use in their careers. “They want to prove they’re better; they want to prove they can outrank somebody,” Fuenfhausen said. “A lot of them surprise themselves.”