Two Española Valley High School students will be a part of a team representing the state, in national Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) competition in a few weeks.
Senior Alexa Baca, 17, and junior Cutter Wheeler, 17, are two of a dozen students from around the state, to earn spots at the International Career Development Conference this April, in Anaheim, Calif.
Baca and Wheeler earned the honors by outscoring hundreds of students and taking second- and third-place, respectively, during the Club’s 2017 State Conference, Feb. 27 to March 1.
Specifically, Baca, who competed in the Hotel Lodging Division, won the second-place spot by engaging in a role play, in an effort to adequately address how well she would respond to a scenario assigned to her, by Conference officials.
The 17-year-old said she owes her success during the State Conference to both, her ability to stay calm, and her understanding of the subject matter.
“They give you a scenario, mine was related to hotel and lodging, with possible questions the judges can ask you,” she said. “Just taking really good notes helped me and just kind of being confident walking in, stuff like that.”
Like many of her Club peers, Baca is a very active student. In addition to the Club, she is also a member of the National Honor Society and MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science and Achievement). After graduation, she plans on attending Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., so she can earn a teaching degree.
Wheeler, her Club peer, also earned his spot at nationals by doing a role play. He did his project on the principals of business management. His tasks involved answering questions regarding municipality management.
Wheeler, who also runs on the high school’s cross country team, said he doesn’t know why the judges thought his project was worthy of a trip to California this April, but he is pleased to make the cut.
“I have no idea what won the judges over,” he said. “I just did what I could to try to make it.”
Club advisor Terri Strauss said she is pleased with how well the students performed as a group and individually. Each year the students seem to get better.
“(Almost) everyone I took made it on to stage and were one of the 12 in the state,” she said. “Cutter Wheeler took third place and Alexa Baca took second place and that is out of the state of New Mexico. I think we have been doing it lots of years and the kids just keep getting better and better.”
Strauss said the students that didn’t earn a trip to nationals will have another shot at it next year.
“I had two individuals who are pretty new to DECA,” she said. “They have next year to have that opportunity.”
One of those students is 16-year-old junior Danny Ranes. He presented a community service project he and his peers worked on called “Things for Thanks.” The project involved students collecting household goods and passing them out to area families.
“We got several big buckets from Lowe’s (Lowe’s Home Improvement) and we collected paper plates and silverware and gave them to families who can’t afford them for the holidays,” Ranes said.
He plans on enlisting in the United States Marines, when he graduates at the end of May 2018, so it is fitting that he works well in a team environment.
He said the “Things for Thanks” initiative was a group effort and the group chose him to present the project during the State Conference.
Strauss said the Club will start working on raising money to pay for the students’ trip to the National Conference.
“We are selling slushies during the last 10 minutes of lunch and popcorn at the (March 3) game,” she said. “Then after that, we have to get creative.”