Jaehyuk "Sean" Chung '18 thought the best way to grow the club he initiated at Wilbraham & Monson Academy was to do well at a competition.
Sean did what he sought out to accomplish, and then some, taking first place at the 2017 Massachusetts DECA District 7 Competition Jan. 13 in Boxboro.
Competing against 23 other students, Sean won the Principles of Business Management and Administration. By placing in the top six, he advanced to the state competition, which will be held in March in Boston.
DECA, which consists of international high school and college students, as well as teachers, with a focus on all forms of business, such as finance, sales and marketing.
The event was split into two sections: a 100 question test to be taken in 75 minutes, and role playing an unknown prompt to a judge for 10 minutes with only 10 minutes of preparation
"My goal was to qualify for states," Sean explained. "I didn't have a basis for whether I did well on the role playing or not, but when they called my name in the top six, I was glad. Then they called third place, second place and then first place, and they said my name.
"This year I wanted to focus on how I could do well with my performance, so for next year I can show my performance and try to get other kids involved. In order to do that I needed a good result. This is a good first step, but there is still a state and international competition to go."
Sean, who wants to pursue a career in business, started the WMA DECA Club this year.
"I just started this club here," he said. "I didn't have anyone here who knows about DECA so there's no one to ask if I have a question about the competition. I had to prepare myself by doing everything online. I didn't know what the experience was going to be like. But I think it was a fun experience and interesting. I wanted to have an opportunity to test myself. If you're really into math, you take math tests to see how you compare to other people."
Club members Georgii Chichua '18 and Daniel Voronin '17 also fared well at the competition, which drew 500 high school students. Georgii advanced to the state event by placing in the top six in the Principles of Finance category, while Daniel took eighth in the Principles of Marketing division.