Oklahoma Collegiate DECA members returned from the International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Florida, with several finalist honors and a new international officer.
Maryam Amin, a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, was elected to the 2023-24 Collegiate DECA Executive Council as vice president. She is Oklahoma’s first Collegiate DECA international officer.
Amin was a top 10 test taker, top 10 case study performance and finalist in the fashion merchandising and marketing individual case study competition. Other competition finalists were Devesh Lahoti, OU, sales challenge, and Arman Riaz, OU, emerging technology marketing strategies.
In addition, the OU DECA chapter received the Top New Chapter Award.
A member of DECA for three years, Amin co-founded the collegiate chapter at OU and just completed her term as its president. She is majoring in computer science with a minor in marketing.
“I hope to bring in my own diverse perspective to the team,” Amin said. “The business world is often stereotyped to include only a small subset of our population. DECA serves as a gateway to business that encourages diversity and inclusivity.
She added that she hopes to encourage not only diversity of identities, but also diversity of thought, ideas and creativity.
Both Amin and Riaz are Oklahoma DECA high school products; they both attended Edmond Santa Fe High School.
This was the second year an Oklahoma contingent attended the Collegiate DECA International Career Development Conference.
Oklahoma Collegiate DECA is in its second year; 20 students competed at the state level, and four attended and competed at ICDC. All four were from the OU chapter, Oklahoma Collegiate DECA’s newest chapter.
“It is beyond exciting that Oklahoma has made history at each ICDC we have attended since forming our collegiate association, bringing home our inaugural first place award in our first year, and electing Oklahoma's first Collegiate DECA executive officer in our second year,” said Paxton Cavin, Oklahoma DECA adviser at the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education. “My hope is that Oklahoma Collegiate DECA continues to grow and that these successes show postsecondary students all around the state, in technology centers, colleges and universities that Oklahoma DECA has opportunities outside of high school that are aimed at preparing Oklahoma students for future success in the workforce.”
DECA is one of seven CareerTech student organizations affiliated with CareerTech programs. It is affiliated with marketing education. The other six are FCCLA (family and consumer sciences education), FFA (agricultural education), SkillsUSA (trade and industrial education), Business Professionals of America (business and information technology education), Technology Student Association (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and HOSA (health careers education).
Oklahoma CareerTech: Education that works for you
The Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education provides leadership and resources and assures standards of excellence for a comprehensive statewide system of career and technology education. The system offers programs and services in 29 technology center districts operating on 60 campuses, 391 PK-12 school districts, 15 Skills Centers campuses that include three juvenile facilities and 32 adult education and family literacy providers.
The agency is governed by the State Board of Career and Technology Education and works closely with the State Department of Education and the State Regents for Higher Education to provide a seamless educational system for all Oklahomans.
