Saltfleet District High School Student Competing in DECA’s International Competition
Grade 10 Saltfleet District High School student, Fatima Zakar, is heading to Orlando, Florida from April 25th to May 2nd to take part in the Distributive Education Clubs of America’s (DECA) International Competition.
Fatima is part of the DECA club at Saltfleet Secondary School, which is led by teacher organizers Gabrielle Marchese and Lisa Pelzer. The club offers the opportunity for Saltfleet students to learn about business concepts and compete against other students regionally, provincially, and internationally.
Fatima says that these competitions take a great deal of preparation and as you advance, each competition requires even more time and preparation. She spent a great deal of time on practice multiple choice tests and sample case studies.
Fatima competed alone in the Principles of Finance category. Throughout the regional and provincial competitions, Fatima won because of her oral presentation score combined with her multiple-choice test score.
“My goal throughout the competitions was to keep getting better at the role-playing aspect and maintaining my multiple-choice scores,” explained Fatima.
At the international competition, Fatima will compete against students from across Canada and the United States.
“We are very proud of Fatima’s accomplishments thus far. I am sure there is more to come,” said Saltfleet District High School Principal, Christine Nicolaides.
Although Fatima enjoys learning about business, her passion is science and her goals for post-secondary education include pursuing an undergraduate degree in science then going to medical school to be a doctor.
Fatima has never been to Florida before and in addition to looking forward to the competition, she is most excited about the DECA prom and getting to visit the Universal Studios theme park.
Distributive Education Clubs of America
serves as the leading, innovative extra-curricular program for secondary school students in Ontario. DECA creates professional partnerships and experiential learning opportunities, that allow students to develop confidence, employability skills and demonstrate leadership. During competitions, students have the option of entering alone or in pairs in a variety of events from accounting to sports and entertainment marketing.
Congratulations and good luck, Fatima!