Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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SEPTEMBER 2015 nshoremag.com | 63 student that is competing decides which category they would like to compete in. If they are competing in the role-playing section they are given a product to market, either as an individual or as team, and have time to prepare a marketing scheme before they present it to a panel of judges that act as their employers. The students are then evaluated on how well they answer the judges' questions about their product. Another part of the competition is a written section in which the stu- dent prepares a research paper on a topic featured at the competition beforehand and then presents it to the judges. The winners of these subcategories are then invited to compete at the three-day long State Conference held later in the year, and have a chance to go to Nation- als. This year, the NAHS DECA pro- gram had 60 students compete at States and nine at Nationals, where two students placed in the top 10. Kochanski says his favorite part of DECA is "the real-world experi- ence and the connections that you can make from being a part of [it]." Daniel Oberlander, the other DECA advisor and a business teacher, agrees with Kochanski. He says that DECA has helped his students get into college, aided by opportunities to speak with representatives from colleges and employers that attend the state conferences. Oberlander says the experience helps them decide what they would like to major in and has even helped some of them get jobs and internships working with the Patriots. For Kochanski, DECA isn't just a way to jump-start his future, however. "I've made a ton of new friends through the organization," he says.