When Tanvi Muppala heard the news of her Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) state competition being switched to Zoom, she lost all hope of making it to the International Career Development Conference (ICDC). The stress of presenting to the judges online, combined with the fear of competing with other contestants, made her lose all hope.  

However, when Muppala finally presented her roleplay to the judges, she was met with surprise. 

“I couldn’t believe the news,” she said. “The judges decided that I could advance to ICDC.”

The DECA competition is an event where students participate in a series of business-related contests that range from district all the way to the international level, otherwise known as ICDC. Contestants are allowed to choose what event they would like to compete in. 

Muppala competed in the Apparel and Marketing Series event. 

“I compete alone in a 10-minute roleplay and take a multiple-choice test,” said Muppala. 

Muppala notes that the most challenging part of her event was the roleplay portion. 

“I had to compete alone in a 10-minute roleplay,” she said. “The roleplay is on the spot, which is what makes it more difficult. Since you only have 10 minutes to prepare, it makes it all the more stressful.”

To come up with ideas for her roleplay, Muppala would research vocabulary and marketing.

“I spent my time studying vocabulary and current companies’ methods of marketing their clothes and accessories. I implemented these ideas into my roleplays, and it helped me tremendously,” she said.

Despite her success in making it to ICDC, Muppala wishes that she performed better during her multiple-choice test. 

“One regret I have about state competition was my multiple choice test score,” she said. “It did not improve much from districts. I feel that I could have done much better with a lot more practice and time.” 

Muppala believes that the most difficult part of making nationals was her confidence. 

“Although I had to make many sacrifices for virtual competition, such as rescheduling my Socratic Seminar and managing drill team tryouts, the hardest part of advancing to internationals was believing I could do it. I had to work on my confidence and learn how to recover when I messed up with my speaking skills,” said Muppala. 

DECA ICDC alternate, Akshara Bade, competed in the Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan (EIP). 

Bade’s event consisted of researching and marketing an original product with a 10-page written plan and a 15-minute presentation.

“I competed in EIP [to] build up my team working skills, and for the fact that I thought it would be a fun and creative way to show my business capabilities,” said Bade. 

Despite not making nationals, Bade is still proud of her ideas and hard work. 

“To be honest, I felt good about our product and all the work me and my teammate put into it,” she said. “Although I would have loved to make it to internationals, I still appreciate making it as an alternate.”

Bade and her teammate created their product by observing the issues people struggled with.

“We came up with the idea of our product by listing daily struggles we and other people faced in daily life,” said Bade. “I thought of how my glasses fogged up all the time, and we built off of our product from there.”

Bade reflects on how her experience in DECA helped her build many business skills. 

“This year in DECA helped me so much by teaching me teamwork, how to create products, and the financials that go into it,” she said. “I was really able to experience firsthand how it feels to pitch a product.”

After competing in DECA Bade learned to step out of her comfort zone and take risks. 

“My advice for future DECA competitors is to simply try your best and don’t be afraid to take risks with your ideas. Don’t let your nerves hold you back from your capabilities,” said Bade.