A business club at Camosun Collge is giving students real-life experience in the business world.
DECA is aimed at developing students’ professionalism and leadership skills through networking, volunteer work, and competitions. The experience gives members opportunity in the world of business to give them an edge in the competitive field.
Jasmine Giesbrecht, an accounting student who has been a part of DECA for three years and now serves on the board, says the purpose of DECA is “to develop our members into better leaders and business professionals, and also to give back to our community at Camosun.”
Camosun’s DECA chapter is the only one in BC and has 25 members, the largest it has ever been. Members of the group go to conferences and participate in case competitions against other DECA groups in the United States.
“Being a DECA member doesn’t really require anything. Our fundraising events are usually once a month, but it doesn’t really take much effort,” says Giesbrecht. “The rewards are so good because employers see you’re a part of a group, and you’re going to different leadership conferences, and you’re really successful and you’re winning competitions. It sets you apart from other applicants.”
Joshua Hoetzel has gotten everything he had hoped from DECA since he first joined two years ago.
“I joined it to meet people in the business community,” says Hoetzel, an accounting student at Camosun. “It’s been inspiring. Every time I go to a DECA meeting and hang out with them it’s like I work harder in school.”
Hoeztel says there are many benefits from the real-world experience DECA provides, as well as the networking.
“It’s a lot of competitions, it’s a lot of out-of-school experience in the business world. Basically, meeting a lot of interesting people. I still keep in contact with many of them,” says Hoeztel. “There are no actual requirements. It’s what you put in, you get out. I put in a lot and I get out a lot more than what I put in.”
Another goal of DECA is to benefit the larger Camosun community, something Giesbrecht admits they have not done enough of this year. But the club plans to do that this year by using their business skills to help students with their personal financial planning later on this year.
“Even though we haven’t really done our community service yet, we’re really going to work on that for next semester and really give back to the community more by helping people, working through theirĘfinancial literacy and that sort of thing,” she says. “I mean, we’re business students and we’re good at budgeting and planning for the future. So we really want to help people that way.”