Deca Provincials: A Sweeping Success

By Halyn Le | May 11th, 2023

With the start of the second semester, The Woodlands Secondary School’s DECA team participated in the 44th DECA Provincials. The competition took place in Toronto’s Sheraton Centre from February 12-15th. Competing against over 200 schools for three days, the team earned a total of 71 awards.

The Woodlands Secondary School earned 37 Roleplay awards, 20 Multiple Choice (MC) awards, 12 Top 10 awards, two top three finalists and 18 Virtual Business Challenge (VBC) International Career Development Conference (ICDC) Qualifiers! VBC had the most online qualifiers as a category with Principles following right behind. #woodssweep!

The view from the Sheraton Centre in Toronto where the competition took place.

The Woodstock conducted an interview with ninth Grade DECA member Jiya Goel about her experience at her first DECA Provincials.

We asked about how it was staying on-site at the competition. Smiling, she said, “it was really good actually because I mean, you live in your room with your four best friends so it’s like nothing could go wrong. You can like, stay up with your friends and do fun stuff even if you don’t win an award. Also, since you’re in the middle of Toronto you can go to cafes and stuff like that.” Her most memorable moment when visiting Toronto was shared with her friends in her room while doing karaoke.

Jiya Goel, on stage receiving her award for Top 3 Overall in her category.

When asked, Jiya’s advice for those who are going to DECA Provincials in the future is to “do research on your performance indicators from the master list so you understand the criteria you are judged on. Additionally, practicing roleplay scenarios with your friends helps to give yourself a better understanding of what you’re doing. Other than that, just enjoy the experience to the fullest.”

We’re very proud of all of the members that participated in the DECA Provincials and we’re hoping to see more Woodlands representation at future events! Congratulations to all that played a part in this year’s competition. You can follow @deca.woodlands on Instagram for updates from the club, including their recent trip to Florida to compete in ICDC!

This interview had been edited for the purposes of clarity and conciseness.