On March 6, Coppell High School’s Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) chapter received news that 15 out of 100 competing students are advancing to the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) held virtually from Monday to May 6. 

CHS DECA competed in the Texas State Career Development Conference, initially held from Feb. 8-12, but extended to Feb. 22 due to the winter storm, which qualified students to become either finalists or ICDC qualifiers. In addition to the 15 ICDC qualifiers, there were 16 finalists, all sophomores or juniors.

According to CHS DECA adviser Richard Chamberlain, 15 ICDC qualifiers and 16 finalists is nothing out of the norm. 

“I was happy [when I found out the state CDC results],” Chamberlain said. “Double digits is kind of the minimum we should be achieving here at Coppell for my standards. [Having] 16 finalists was great because that’s almost like an honorable mention or alternates; the difference between a finalist or [ICDC] qualifier can be just a couple of points.” 

For CHS junior DECA president Kavin Sampath, becoming an ICDC qualifier for personal financial literacy was almost like a weight off of his shoulders.

“I’m the president of the school, and I kind of had to make it [to ICDC],” Sampath said. “But it was mostly relieving to see the hard work we put into it paid off.” 

Even more impressive for Chamberlain is the resourcefulness and dedication that many CHS DECA members have.

“I’m trying to keep up with a lot of students and their knowledge of non-fungible tokens, blockchains and cryptocurrency, and they are so new,” Chamberlain said. “Another thing that helps us with DECA is we have students who can go into those role-plays and create written projects and these kids are connected [with trends in their field]; in fact, for sure they are more connected than some of their judges.”

As the qualifiers face ICDC, they not only hope to make the top of their events, but they look forward to carrying the career-enriching skills into their future plans.

“Following ICDC, I would say that the most important thing is just keeping the skills that you’ve learned from the business experiences and seeking out other experiences that allow you to preserve and retain those skills over long periods,” CHS junior ICDC qualifier Veda Kanamarlapudi said. 

Follow Shreya (@BeldonaShreya) and @CHSCampusNews on Twitter.