DECA, a national association of marketing education students, provides teachers and members with educational and

leadership development activities to merge with the education classroom instructional program. DECA is not

extracurricular; it is an integral part of the classroom instructional program. DECA chapters attract students who are

interested in preparing for entrepreneurial, marketing or management careers. While DECA membership consists

primarily of students in marketing programs, membership extends also to alumni and to professionals in marketing

education and in marketing teacher education. Working hand-in-hand with the education and business communities,

DECA’s goal is for its student members to develop a "career success kit" to carry into their business and personal lives

after graduation; one that includes:

Occupational competencies needed for careers in marketing, management and entrepreneurshipLeadership

abilities

Social and business etiquette

Understanding and appreciation of civic responsibility

Ethical behavior in personal and business relationships

Understanding the role of our free enterprise system in the global economy

To accomplish this, DECA utilizes on-the-job experience, chapter projects, and a program of competency-based

competitive events in specific marketing occupational areas. These events emphasize academic and vocational

excellence as building blocks for successful marketing and management careers and demonstrate the direct

relationship between marketing education and the real needs of business and industry. Each year more than 110,000

students participate in the competitions on the local, state and national levels.

A non-profit organization, DECA is governed by an elected Board of Directors. The National Advisory Board made up of

representatives of major U.S. corporations and businesses who support DECA’s mission, and the Congressional Advisory

Board made up of members of the U.S. Congress, offer members support and guidance. Since July 1991, the

organization is known by its commonly recognized acronym, DECA, accompanied by the tag line, "An Association of

Marketing Students". The familiar diamond DECA logo has been updated; newly designed to suggest the strength,

stability, and forward-looking attitude of the association and its 180,000 student members.

What We Stand For

In 1946, the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) organized around an ambitions goal: to improve

educational and career opportunities in marketing, management and entrepreneurship for students. In the years since,

DECA has remained on the cutting edge of educational innovation, working with the business community to integrate

academic achievement with vocational and career skills.

Over time, the needs of our membership have changed, and we have changed to meet them. Yet the fundamental

reasons we formed remain at our core: First, effective marketing education gives young people the tools and aptitudes

they need to pursue their dreams. Second, marketing education works best when it's part of an integrated education

program linking classroom instruction with internship experience for career success.

With 180,000 student members and faculty advisors, we function as the companion student organization to over 5,000

marketing education programs in secondary and postsecondary schools across the U.S., its territories and Canada. Our

once-revolutionary ideas have become models for effective educational alternatives. DECA remains committed to the

advocacy of marketing education and the growth of business and education partnerships .

Visit the National DECA website here.