The DECA Dugout, the school-based enterprise at St. Francis High School (SFHS), was among 851 school-based enterprises achieving Gold-Level Certification for the 2024-25 school year and will be recognized during DECA’s International Career Development Conference (ICDC) April 26-29, 2025, in Orlando, Florida.
Additionally, SFHS DECA was among 1,100 chapters that achieved Thrive Level recognition during the 2024-25 school year. Two DECA members from SFHS will be selected to participate at DECA’s ICDC in April.
What is an SBE?: A school-based enterprise (SBE) is an entrepreneurial operation in a school setting that provides goods and services to meet the needs of the market. SBEs are managed and operated by students as hands-on learning laboratories that integrate National Curriculum Standards in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.
The DECA Dugout: The DECA Dugout is a student-run school store offering Saints apparel and spirit wear to students, staff, and the community, with all designs created by DECA students. The store also sells snacks and beverages during specific times of the school day. All profits help offset student conferences and the DECA program. View the DECA Dugout online store (not all items in the store are available online).
The SFHS DECA member who contributed to the certification was junior Jack Humphrey with the assistance of the DECA chapter advisor, Lisa-Marie Schrag. The SBE at SFHS has operated for four years and is to be commended for this achievement.
More about the SBE Certification Program: DECA’s School-based Enterprise Certification Program provides recognition for outstanding achievement by school-based enterprises and motivates SBEs to strive for excellence and growth. SBEs can be certified at three levels: bronze, silver or gold. In order to apply for the certification, SBEs must submit extensive documentation that explains how the SBE demonstrates the practice of various marketing and retail standards. A review committee evaluates the documentation to determine which level of certification has been achieved.
“DECA’s School-based Enterprise Certification Program is a rigorous process designed to help DECA members demonstrate their classroom learning in a practical, learning laboratory, and then translate that into meaningful outcomes,” said Christopher Young, CAE, Chief Program Officer at DECA Inc. “These DECA members are practicing important workplace readiness skills while preparing for college and careers.”
DECA advisors have utilized this effective educational tool for over four decades to provide their students with realistic and practical learning experiences that reinforce classroom instruction, enhance 21st Century skill development, and prepare students for college and careers.
About DECA Inc.: DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs with a career interest in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA enhances the preparation for college and careers by providing co-curricular programs that integrate into classroom instruction, apply learning, connect to business and promote competition. DECA student members leverage their DECA experience to become academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders. DECA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with over 287,000 members in more than 4,000 high school and college chapters in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Germany.
For more information about DECA, visit www.deca.org.