DECA, the entrepreneurship club lead by Justin Gainsley ‘18, won big at the State competition this past March 4-6. The club is popular across the world as well as at school due to its profound ability to assist students in their business efforts for future jobs and careers.

The DECA club meets every Wednesday during TASC to receive help and understanding about their entrepreneurial engagements. Often DECA brings in a local entrepreneur to share their experience with club members.

When talking about the work that is involved in DECA, Gainsley says, “Unlike many other schools, Blake’s DECA program does not have a corresponding class, so in order to perform well, a lot of work outside of school is required.” In January, the club’s efforts paid off during the district DECA competition which took place at the Minnetonka High School. Blake did extremely well with sixteen students qualifying for the State competition.

Pushing beyond their results at the district competition, the DECA club did exceedingly well at State. Their accomplishments included five state finalists. These finalists placed in the top twelve in Minnesota within their entrepreneurship category. These finalists include, Varun Agarwal ‘18, Jake Lundberg ‘19, Gainsley, Kyle Meredith ‘18, Morgan Swigert ‘20. Furthermore, Gainsley and Meredith won 2nd place in the Business Growth Plan event, Swigert placed 2nd in the Principles of Business  Management event,and Gainsley received 3rd place in the Business Services Marketing event.

In response to his success, Swigert remarks, “I think that I can attribute my success in DECA to my experience with debate. It has really allowed me to think well on my feet as well as to be a convincing speaker.” Gainsley, Meredith, and Swigert also qualified for the International DECA competition which will be hosted in Atlanta, Georgia this April.