Battlefield has various clubs with many different purposes. A very popular club with a lot of members is DECA, which is sponsored by Mrs.Mangano who has been a DECA sponsor for a total of nine years, three of which have been at Battlefield. The purpose of DECA is to create vocational understanding, leadership development, civic consciousness and social intelligence.The clubs tries to meet twice a month. In the club they do community service , team building activities and prepare for competitions. A member can only compete if they are in a marketing class. Mangano explains, “ We want to be an organization that people want to be apart of and think is fun as well as meaningful.” She also says her favorite part of the program is , “ Watching students who wouldn’t normally be friends , forming friendships.”

On March 4, 2017, our school’s very own team of DECA students trekked to Virginia Beach to participate in DECA’s State Leadership Conference. DECA is a club centered in Business and Marketing.

Senior and Vice President of DECA, Kaylee Gardner decided to join the club during her sophomore year. “I had Mrs. Smith for the class Fashion Marketing, and she always showed us videos of different DECA activities and competitions in class.” Gardner had a great experience at the conference. She says, “I had a great time at the competition. It was kind of stressful memorizing my project and everything but overall it was a great experience. I won.” Gardner says, proudly. “I placed in the top 10 for my test score and I qualified for ICDC, which is top 8. I get to go to ICDC in California.” she responded happily. Garder placed in the category of financial consulting If you ever need help with financial consulting, Kaylee Gardner is the one to ask!

President of Battlefield’s DECA club, Qiarah McBryde joined DECA because her older sister encouraged her to join because of the travel opportunities it gave her. “Truthfully, I thought that it would be fun to leave school and go to competitions. At the time, districts was at Potomac Mills and I thought it would be fun to go to the mall for the day.” She did add that she learned a lot from the competition at Potomac Mills and it inspired her to work harder on her project. As one can see DECA at BHS is striding to achieve the qualities that organization promotes.