Oklahoma Christian University’s collegiate DECA chapter continued last year’s legacy by placing first in six out of seven events during the Oklahoma Collegiate DECA State Competition.
DECA hosts competitions for emerging leaders and entrepreneurs worldwide to practice business-related skills with real-world application.
Oklahoma Christian’s DECA Coach, Wes McKinzie, said experience from last year helped the team know what to expect.
“Last year we really didn’t have a great idea of what to expect,” McKinzie said. “This year, having that experience and having most of our folks return, we were able to go in with the mindset of the known. That was helpful for everybody, even our newcomers.”
The DECA team prepares for the competition by practicing what they will actually be doing during the event.
“We’ll get together and everyone will do a run-through of their presentations,” McKinzie said. “Even for those that don’t have something specific to prepare, we’ll have them do a mock run-through of taking a scenario and putting together a presentation, just so they flex those muscles and get a feel for what that might feel like.”
McKinzie said Oklahoma Christian’s College of Business is exceptional due to a mix of impressive statistics and high-caliber students.
“Oklahoma Christian as a whole and then our College of Business in particular — we have some really great stats in terms of placement rates and test scores. I think the caliber of students that we have come through here — they already have some really great talents in terms of their work ethic and critical thinking skills.”
All 12 students representing Oklahoma Christian qualified to compete at the Collegiate DECA International Career Development Conference in Louisville later this year.
“Collegiate DECA has grown quite a bit,” McKinzie said. “At internationals, our students compete against schools of all shapes and sizes, from those similar to OC to Power 4 schools. For us to do as well as we did last year was really exciting.”
Two-time state champion Joshua Drouin said he is very satisfied with Oklahoma Christian’s performance.
“Our goal was to go seven for seven in competitions and we almost hit that goal. We went six for seven in the titles,” Drouin said. “We were pretty pumped about it. For a program that’s only been around for two years, we set a pretty good precedent.”
Drouin said he is looking forward to nationals and believes the team will perform well.
“I feel like we’re going to do really, really good at nationals this year,” Drouin said. “I’m expecting at least a few more top-10 finishes instead of the two that we had last year. I’m expecting at least one more DECA glass trophy to be brought this year.”
Avie Krebs, a marketing management major who placed first in her event, said she appreciated the sense of camaraderie from participating in DECA.
“I loved having that team camaraderie,” Krebs said. “I was in sports in high school and I miss that a lot. And so being here at OC, getting to be a part of something like DECA where I get to be a part of a team and we have this team camaraderie was just such a special experience.”
Krebs said she is looking forward to exploring Louisville, Kentucky during the international competition.
“Outside of the actual competition, I am very excited to explore Kentucky with the team,” Krebs said. “Last year we got to explore San Francisco and it was a blast, so I’m excited to explore Kentucky as well as just compete with my friends.”
The state award winners in each category from Oklahoma Christian are listed below:
Advertising Campaign:
First Place: Joshua Drouin, Landon Connell and Ethan Radcliff
Corporate Finance:
First Place: Braden Hobby
Digital Marketing Strategies:
First Place: Elijah Cleary and Christian Ross
Second Place: Avie Krebs and Mattie Baird
Entrepreneurship – Starting a Business:
First Place: Jay Cordonnier
Marketing Management:
First Place: Avie Krebs
Sports Marketing:
First Place: Alyx Logan and Blake Morrison
Third Place: Joshua Drouin and Stone Small
Professional Sales:
Second Place: Stone Small
McKinzie said the program helps students build important skills and land jobs, and he hopes the team will continue to grow.
“We went from five competitors last year to 12 this year, and we’d love to grow that even more in the future,” McKinzie said. “The opportunity to have DECA on a resume shows potential employers that students didn’t just do school, but they were proactive and involved. It builds critical thinking, communication and presentation skills.”
Students interested in participating in DECA can contact McKinzie at wes.mckinzie@oc.edu.
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