DECA is Back in Buissness

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LENGTHY LEADERSHIP: DECA president Dylan Ho introducing himself and leading the first DECA meeting on September 2nd. This is DECA’s first official DECA meeting since 2024 due the organization’s closing. Angie Borge Photographer

By: Rebecca Batista, Abbey Ramirez, and Adrian Baez

DECA, formerly the distributive education club of America, was a business club featured on West Broward High School’s campus. DECA prepares students for careers across business and for college. The club was shut down temporarily for the 2024-25 school year, but a few students had a driven passion to revive it and are now running the club.

Early in the 2024-25 school year, DECA adviser and West Broward English teacher Bodayjah Anderson stepped down from her position, leaving behind a chapter that was unable to function without a sponsor. However, reading teacher Quarratulayne Ghaniwala quickly took over as the teacher of the sports marketing class. Ghaniwala and dedicated students were able to reintroduce the DECA Club to West Broward. But with former president Mia Villegas graduating and incoming sophomore Dylan Ho taking over there is much work to be completed to get back to where the club once was.

“They are really into it. Some of them are very passionate about it. I had a senior that’s leaving and then I had a freshman that was willing to take over, to become president next year“They both have been meeting up and trying to put things together because the senior is not going to be here next year and the freshman, he doesn’t know how to maneuver it, especially with me not knowing what to do,” said reading teacher and DECA advisor Quarratulayne Ghaniwala.

DECA is a career and technical education (CTE) club that trains future business leaders by expanding their knowledge in marketing, entrepreneurship, finance and hospitality. The club centers around competitions and roleplay scenarios where members submit mock business plans in various fields and take knowledge tests in their competition category.

“I believe DECA is the only club on campus,or organization on campus that provides students an opportunity in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. There’s no other organization right now on campus that offers that support to students,” said DECA President Dylan Ho.

Last year, Ho and his mentor Mia Villegas faced various challenges that delayed the revival of DECA, but finding a new advisor to take over for Anderson was the priority. With a potential advisor, Villegas had worked with Ghaniwala to restore the club’s vision and responsibilities. With four years in the club, Villegas helped by providing marketing projects, rubrics, and used her DECA experience to give Ghaniwala a baseline.

“Mia has been giving us her expertise from the past four years about marketing and DECA. She has a lot of experience with the paperwork and the different types of competitions, so she’s been a great help. I’m glad Ms. Ghaniwala is helping us out with DECA. She has a lot of great ideas to grow our chapter and enhance the curriculum,” Ho said.

The DECA club is making a resounding return with the first meeting happening on September 2nd and their second meeting on September 18th. The organization is making moves to be more recognizable, having events on and off campus and recruiting more members than ever before. Through every setback the club has faced, they never lost hope in reviving DECA and making sure the DECA club will inspire the next generation of business leaders. Through every setback the club has faced, they never lost hope in reviving DECA. Their passion is rooted in the belief that they can create an impactful club at West Broward that will outlive them. This is the stance the former president has taken, because despite not continuing at West Broward after her graduation, the DECA club she cares for will inspire the next generation of business leaders.

“I think it’s important to have all future career fields covered in the CTE and club selection here at West Broward. It’s important for students to learn even if they are not going into the business world with all the jargon, interview processes, project management, because it’s going to be really important to them for the rest of their life,” said DECA President 2024-2025 Mia Villegas.