A model for success

Rikki Miller feels conflicted about her future. She is torn between a career in business, psychology or maybe even politics.

Luckily, she’s only 16.

“I don’t know — I’m pretty good at arguing, and I like to lead,” she said. “And I think it’d be cool to be a business owner. But first I want to be a criminal psychologist.”

Miller, a junior at Riverside High School, was one of 550 Eastern Washington high school students getting a jump start on their careers at the Regional DECA Competition held Wednesday at Spokane Community College. DECA—the Delta Epsilon Chi Association—is also known as the Association of Business and Marketing Students, and in the annual competition, high school students face individual and team challenges that focus on business, marketing and management.

Along the way, students learn what they are good at and how to apply their talents to the real world.

“Rikki is a born leader, but now she has focus,” said Cory Bartlett, 30, the Riverside business and marketing teacher who runs the school’s DECA program.

Miller and team partner Amanda Anderson, also 16, were two of 10 Riverside students who advanced to the state finals in Seattle, out of 29 who entered. Those who place in the top five to 10 percent in Seattle will go on to Orlando for the international finals, where they will vie against students from all 50 states, as well as Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam, for $250,000 in college scholarships.

Students in the competition face real life role-playing scenarios in areas such as business, finance, accounting, automotive, sports marketing, fashion merchandising and entrepreneurship. Judges are drawn from the local business community.

Young people hone skills in communication, problem solving and leadership, said teacher Bartlett. Those are skills that employers covet. “If you can learn those soft skills, you can really get an edge,” he said.

Besides gaining an edge in employment, the club helps kids discover what they want out of life. “DECA helps a kid find their passion,” said Bartlett, who started the DECA program at Riverside four years ago.

According to senior Nick Leavitt, 17, president of the Riverside DECA club, on the club’s first day, only four students showed up. Now it counts more than 80 members.

Bartlett credits that to the club’s flexibility. “All types of kids can be successful in DECA,” he said. “They’re learning how to express creativity within the boundaries of what’s acceptable.”

He pointed to one success story—Riverside senior Marshal Bellinger, 17.

Bellinger, with his piercings and tattoos, was not the typical business club member, Bartlett said. But he found his niche within DECA.

“He’s not the kind of kid who stands up and speaks at the front of the class — he kind of walks the edge,” Bartlett said. “But now he runs his own business — a computer gaming lounge.”

Bellinger came up with the business model for the gaming lounge as part of a DECA competition.

“This is showing us how to open doors in the real world,” said Anna Rettig, 17, a senior and another of Bartlett’s students. “It’s like a head start in life.”

One of the most useful lessons in the class, she said, was how to act in a job interview.

“I did what he said and I got a job,” Rettig said. “No slouching and dress to impress.”