Part 5 - The Presidents: DECA

Q: What is the legacy you want to leave behind?

A: I think something that has happened with DECA is that as we have gotten smaller […] it can be easy when you don't have that many people, to not feel as much of a sense of pride like “look at us! we’re Monta Vista’s DECA!” But I think for me, DECA has just given me so much, anything in high school in terms of friends, in terms of academic opportunities, career opportunities, confidence, ability to express my ideas, public speaking, planning events, all of these things that I just would not learn without DECA. I just want people to love DECA, I want them to come to study sessions because they want to win, because they want to do well, not because their parents say “go do DECA”, to put on your college apps. This club is so different from any other club that if I was to leave behind any legacy, [people should know that] this club is so amazing, so just care for it, want it, be inspired by it.

Q: Wildest moment/memory made through DECA?

A: Freshman year my friend and I were just chilling in the swimming pool at ICDC, and then we started talking to these dudes from Massachusetts, and they were like, “Our prom is next week, do you guys want to come with us?” and we’re like, “What?” It was just weird. I have pretty embarrassing stories as well, my freshmen year, they were about to call top 10, and they were saying, “In first place,” which is like a huge deal right? And they said from “California” so I step forward, but there was another Californian who actually won, so that was pretty embarrassing.