DECA offers Abbeville High students ‘fun’ experiences, spark for career direction

Abbeville High School now has a DECA club.
And it means business.
More specifically, the club helps to prepare, “Emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.” DECA is a nearly 80-year-old student organization, with members all over the world.
Danielle Alleman, who teaches principles of business at Abbeville High, has helped guide a dozen students through the first year that the school has had the club. Alleman, who initially set out to organize another business-focused club, introduced DECA to AHS at the beginning of this school year.
Alleman, along with two club members, Trinity Campbell and Bailey Thibodeaux, spoke to the Kiwanis Club of Abbeville about how DECA has progressed and where it hopes to go in the future.
“I applied for a grant to start an AHS store that will be run by students,” Alleman said. “In the grant process, it said you need to start a DECA club. I started looking into DECA, and it’s huge.
“It really is awesome.”
Twelve students began the foundation for Abbeville High’s DECA club, which officially got going into the school year.
“I think we’ve had a great year,” Alleman said of getting a later start.
Students have attended conferences, including a conference in New Orleans for sports marketing. Students visited the Smoothie King Center, home of the New Orleans Pelicans basketball team. They had the opportunity to hear various corporate leaders speak about their respective jobs. The students ended the night by attending a Pelicans game.
“It was super fun,” Campbell said. “We went to the Pelicans game. I’ve never been to a professional basketball game. I got to ask professionals questions. We learned about so many things that I didn’t know they had jobs for. We go to see so many things behind the scenes.”
At the State Conference, students successfully competed in events related to national standards in four career focuses. Campbell and Thibodeaux were among the students who performed well at the conferences.
“It was such a fun experience,” Thibodeaux said.
Alleman told members of the Kiwanis Club that plans are for students to attend national conferences in the future. The Kiwanis Club made a donation to help go toward some future expenses.
“There are conferences all over,” Alleman said. “I want to give the kids an experience. I want to get them out of their comfort zone.”
While a great experience now, DECA can have an impact on the future of students involved.
“It does provide a career direction,” Alleman said. “I feel like some kids think so many things are out of reach, but they’re not. If you set your mind on something, you just have to want it and work hard.”
Alleman expects the club to expand in the coming school year.
“We’ve had a lot of students show interest,” she said.
Students will be the focus of a new venture at the school, a school store.
“I will be getting that together this summer,” Alleman said. “Students are going to run the store. I will be teaching them how to do everything, but they are going to do the work. We are going to make T-shirts. We’re going to sell water bottles and lanyards. They’re going to make the stuff, and they’re going to sell it.”