News: The Resurgence of DECA MGCI by Susie Liu

On 6 and 7 February, the annual DECA Ontario Provincial competition was held at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto. In total, over 6000 students participated in the competition this year, divided into 56 different events. Some travelled from as far away as Kitchener and Waterloo. The majority of competitors were involved in oral events, which involve an oral business roleplay and a written exam.
The provincial competition was a qualifier for the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) held in Orlando this April, with the top 6 competitors or teams in each category advancing. The top 6 were asked whether they would be attending the ICDC immediately after the awards ceremony, and if qualifying competitors turned down the opportunity, the next competitor or team would be offered their spot. As a result, several competitors who ranked 7th, 8th, or 9th qualified to compete in Orlando.
12 out of the 35 competitors that advanced to provincials from MGCI won awards, and they are listed as follows:
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Yiqun Zhang – 5th overall – Retail Merchandising Series (RMS)
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Sherrie Cheng – 7th overall – Apparel and Accessories Marketing (AAM)
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Vanessa Du & Susie Liu – 7th overall - Hospitality Services Team Decision Making (HTDM)
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Meagan Wan – 9th overall – Principles of Marketing (PMK)
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Cindy Zeng & Kaarthic Pulogarajah – 9th overall – Marketing Communications Team Decision Making (MTDM)
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Parnika Godkhindi – Top 10 Overall – Human Resources Management (HRM)
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Richard Wu – Top 15 Written Exam – Financial Services Team Decision Making (FTDM)
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Ryan (Chiung-Ting) Lin – Top 15 Roleplay 1 – Marketing Management Services (MMS)
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Lily Song – Top 15 Roleplay 1 – Human Resources Management (HRM)
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Tianyu Lu – Top 15 Roleplay 2 – Accounting Applications (ACT)
Three members from Marc Garneau CI qualified for ICDC: Yiqun Zhang, Sherrie Cheng, and Meagan Wan. Two teams, Vanessa and Susie, and Cindy and Kaarthic, narrowly missed qualifying for the international competition, placing 7th and 9th respectively; no HTDM teams turned down their offer, and only two MTDM teams did so.
Marc Garneau CI has improved significantly from the previous year. At the 2014 provincial competition, only one student, Ryan Lin, advanced to ICDC, compared to the three who did so this year. In the 2014 provincial competition, Ryan and Parnika Godkhindi were the only MGCI students to place top 10 in their respective categories. This year, eight students managed to do so.
At the 2012 provincial competition, seven students from MGCI qualified for ICDC. The chapter’s performance is now heading back in the direction of its former success. It may also be noted that the size of MGCI’s chapter doubled this year, with 53 students being accepted in September as compared to approximately 25 in years previous. Most students who won awards this year are returning members whose performance improved, however.
Chapter members and executives attributed this year’s success to a greater amount of preparation. Since September, DECA members have met in the library nearly every week to practise roleplays. DECA MGCI president Vanessa Du estimated that the turnout for these meetings was typically approximately 30 members. Independent preparation for both the oral roleplay and written exam was also emphasized; many members, including those who qualified for ICDC, felt that this made a key difference.
With regard to the future, Vanessa felt optimistic, citing that the Grade 9s and 10s showed a great deal of promise. She credits this year’s chapter members for their hard work. “They’re the real MVPs.”