North Park Secondary School’s DECA club recently participated in the annual provincial competition at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto, Ontario. DECA provincials is a province-wide competition where the best delegates from each region compete in order to win a plaque and progress to the international level, known as ICDC, which is taking place in Anaheim, California this year. North Park DECA, as always, performed with excellence, with the support of the DECA advisors.
North Park saw 28 students get up on stage and become provincial champions, advancing to the ICDC. We saw remarkable performances from all students, but one team caught everyone’s attention by placing first with a perfect score. This team consisted of the president of North Park DECA, Prakash Kumar, as well as Nityasri Balaji and Aryan Shah.
More history was made when North Park had a grade-nine competitor qualify for the ICDC competition. Of course, this was the brilliant business mind Devin Embir who showed great resilience, becoming the first grade nine to qualify for ICDC from North Park. Additionally, the teams of Ayush Shah, Simran Saini, Navjot Jaswal, Divya Patel, Earagan Nimalan and more also earned plaques, and will be later competing at ICDC. In the individuals category, North Park saw great success with many winners including Ridhikka Arivalaga, Pal Patel, and Elilcharan Ravichandran.
After their masterful performance at provincials, our team interviewed Prakash Kumar to gain some insights on his team’s accomplishments. Prakash was asked about his overall experience. He mentioned that he enjoyed the competition and the social aspect that came with the trip. “I had a great experience, because all the hard work that we put into our report had paid off. And not only that, I also enjoyed being with other members of the North Park DECA chapter, talking to them and having fun.”
When asked about their accomplishment, Prakash replied, “The key to our success was the team chemistry we had. Working with this team for two years was a big reason for our success. Also, the commitment from our team, we spent countless hours working on our report and that’s what got us to qualify for California.”
Despite having a perfect score, Prakash had suggestions about what they could have improved on. “A perfect report to one judge may not be perfect for another, so there is always room for improvement.” He stated that a report score is subjective and their team is committed to constantly making improvements on their report.
Overall, at this year’s DECA provincials, history was made for North Park’s chapter. All the participants worked really hard to make it to the competition and had a great time there. We congratulate all winners that will be going to California this spring and wish them good luck for their competition.
THE NORTH STAR 