On Friday, Jan. 17, Kaneland’s Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) chapter of 70 students competed at the Sectional competition, which was held in Rosemont at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.
Social studies teacher Dragoljub Gudovic and math teacher Daniel Ponczek, the co-advisers of DECA, were focused on building a good foundation and standard for DECA chapters to work from in the future.
“Some of the goals were to solidify our presence on the State level since our club rose like a phoenix from the ashes since it did not exist during COVID,” Gudovic said.
The Kaneland chapter met their goal by advancing 18 members to State across 10 categories.
“This year, Kaneland DECA was raised to another level,” Gudovic said. “We increased the number of the members of the club as well as the students who have qualified for State. I would not single out any students since I am so proud of all of them who competed in Sectionals and the effort that they put in this year.”
Not all of the success this year was from multi-year DECA members. Some first-year members wasted no time in contributing to the team.
“This is my first year in DECA, so my main goal for myself was to make it to State,” senior Kiara Lopez said. “I didn’t even know top four was a [possibility] until I got called up. I also knew I wanted to perform well for my role-play. Honestly, the test didn’t really matter to me as much as the role-play. I will say I met my goals at Sectionals. I’m very happy that I placed and made it to State, and I’m really proud of my role-play score.”
Lopez qualified in the Principles of Entrepreneurship category, which is new to DECA this year. Making the most of new opportunities is just one way that the Kaneland chapter was so successful this year. Students like Lopez qualifying in her first year in a new event shows how well Ponczek and Gudovic have led students.
“Mr. Gudovic has been an amazing inspiration and a huge help in my personal and professional growth,” junior State qualifier Chance Anderson said.
Anderson has made it to State every year of his high school career and plans to keep that going.
Whether it’s a first-year member or a proven club veteran who has qualified for State each year, the Kaneland DECA chapter is looking forward to making some noise at this year’s State competition, and possibly even beyond.
