11 students from the Northwood DECA chapter landed on Texas soil for the 2015 DECA Power Trip in Austin Nov. 20. I was 1/11th of the attendees. The trip lasted until early Monday morning, and in that time, students were taught new real-world skills in college, marketing, interviewing, public speaking, dressing to impress and so much more.
When we arrived in Texas, my expectations for the trip weren’t as high as they could have been. I expected a long weekend full of classes, speakers, early mornings and late nights, and I really was just attending to learn more about DECA. What I did not expect was to leave with new friends and experiences I will forever appreciate. I learned skills that are fully applicable to my future all while enjoying a weekend in Austin.
When we first arrived in Austin, the hassle of getting checked in and the exhaustion of a sleepless night began to drain what excitement I had at that point. By the time we were allowed to roam the town, I was tired and cold and not motivated to do much of anything. As soon as we started to explore, however, my mindset towards the trip did a 360. The five hour flight quickly became worth it as we discovered all Austin had to offer. When it was time to return to the hotel, all the members were expected to dress “business casual” and meet in the ballroom for the opening ceremony, where guest speaker Josh Shipp lead the night. Shipp is a TV show host, youth motivational speaker, teen behavior expert and former DECA member, and the words he had to offer to all of us were touching, moving, humorous and enlightening. I went to bed the first night excited and motivated.
The second day was full of classes to better your DECA career and future in general. We picked which classes we wanted to go to, while we also made frequent stops to the college and career fair set up in-between classes, which provided options for teen jobs and internships. I found so many new options and ideas for my near future, and being a young marketing student and entrepreneur, these were targeted towards students like myself, which was so much more helpful than I can put into words.
On the final day in Austin, students country-wide gathered to close out the ceremony before we were set free for a day in Austin. We toured the capitol building, explored South Congress, ate too much TexMex and met up at sundown to watch the famous sight of 1.3 million bats escape from underneath the South Congress ‘bat bridge’. (The bats left us for Mexico for the winter, but it was fun to see the sunset anyways). We ended the night with Austin’s famous Black’s Barbecue and shoving everything back into our suitcases for our 4:30 a.m. departure.
Not only was Austin one of the most fun, creative, entertaining and surprising places I had ever been to, I learned so much about DECA and my future career/college/life. I left Austin satisfied with my new knowledge and way more impressed with the trip than I ever imagined. What I expected to be a long and mildly dull school trip turned out to be one of my favorite trips I have ever been on.
DECA was something I joined to add to my college application and turned out to be one of the best things I have ever done.
– By Zoe Willard
