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ABOUT US

WE’RE ON A MISSION!

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AREA 6 DECA is on a mission to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management.

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DECA EVERYDAY!

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Every school day, over 200 high school teachers in Washington wake up to teach over 11,000 (and counting) DECA student members to aspire higher, become leaders, and prepare to thrive in the global economy.

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Through active membership, students embrace four key DECA Values: Innovation, Teamwork, Competency, and Integrity. These values are practiced and lived out in over 100 business-based competitions, scholarships, conferences, campaigns, initiatives, school-based enterprises and recognition opportunities for students.

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UNITED PARTNERSHIP MAKES DECA POSSIBLE!

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DECA is a powerful partnership between students, teachers, parents, and business leaders. This partnership combines educational purpose with real-world business practice and then amplifies it with student passion for a positive and profitable future.

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EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTES TO DECA BENEFITS!

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Students gain college and career advantage for life. Teachers gain outstanding educational tools validated by industry that enrich, energize and engage students. Communities become filled with service-minded young leaders who are a force for good. Businesses gain an intelligent, highly skilled, motivated and leadership-ready workforce.

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All of this is made possible through contributions from industry, partners, schools, and students. From student-led fundraisers to school budget allocations to support DECA teachers and classrooms to business and industry leaders who volunteer time and contribute funds for scholarships and world-class education experiences, DECA is the best business and education partnership value in the world available for all high school students.

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70+ YEARS OF SUCCESS

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The U.S. Small Business Administration reports that 50% of startup businesses fail in the first 5 years, so it’s saying something when a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational organization like DECA has made it 70 years (and counting!). DECA has made a lasting impact in the lives of over 150,000 Washington graduates because we not only teach entrepreneurship—we practice it. We evolve, stay cutting edge, and innovate to bring students the best leadership and entrepreneurial opportunities available.

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In 1947 Washington became one of the first states in the nation to be chartered by DECA. Back in the 1940’s, what we call Entrepreneurship and Marketing Education today was called “Distributive Education”. Washington was one of the first to see the value and power of amplifying education through the applied academics available through the “Distributive Education Clubs of America” (our original name). The world of business innovated and advanced and so did DECA. Distributive education became marketing and entrepreneurship education. Clubs of students evolved into communities of business and education leaders championing and cheering for the future of our youth. An America-based organization fostered the idea of the American Enterprise System available for all freedom-loving entrepreneurial-minded people around the world.

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Washington DECA has proven for over 70 years that the more you study the more you know, the more you practice the further you go, and the more you give the more you grow.

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