By SAVANNAH BARR

s.barr@bradfordera.com

SMETHPORT Mara Ours, a junior at Smethport High School, is a proud member of the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA). Recently, Ours went above and beyond at the State Career Development Conference, taking home two medals in the Restaurant and Food Service Management event. She has qualified for the International Career Development Conference, to be held in Orlando, Fla., this April.

‘This was a huge deal for a little school like ours,’ said Shelby Rhoades, club advisor. ‘We were competing against schools who had as many DECA members as we do students in our whole district.’

DECA gives students the opportunity to prepare for their futures by practicing business skills in a competition. Geared toward students enrolled in business classes, DECA helps emerging leaders and entrepreneurs reach their full potential. The club has seen a huge boom in Smethport over the last few years.

‘When 1 took the club over in 2022 I had about five members and this year we had 66 total students,’ said Rhoades. ‘I think the kids like getting to travel and meet other students.’

Ours joined in her ninth grade year and has been a dedicated member. Rhoades was pleased but not surprised by her big win at states.

‘Mara is very hardworking and she prepares a lot,’ said Rhoades. ‘She is very good under pressure and she can come up with creative solutions on the fly.’

Ours said that DECA competitions have taught her a lot about herself.

‘DECA has shown me my strengths and weaknesses within business situations,’ said Ours.

‘I know now that I love public speaking, problem solving on the fly and I deal well with high pressure situations.’

Ours intends to pursue a degree in food science and thought that the Restaurant and Food Service Management category would serve her well.

‘I thought it would be useful knowledge to understand the inner workings of a restaurant and learn more about the customers who would ultimately be buying food from me,’ said Ours.

DECA competitions can be done as solo events or in pairs. Students are scored on written exams and improvised answers to role-playing situations.

‘It was nerve-wracking waiting with all the other students to be told what my scenario would be because you don’t know ahead of time,’ said Ours. ‘I only had 10 minutes to prepare for a seven minute presentation in front of the judges.’

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Mara Ours, a junior at Smethport Area High School, has advanced to compete in the international Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) conference in Orlando, Fla., in April.

Photo provided DECA members prepare for competitions by taking practice tests and reviewing key terms and modalities for business situations.

“I would go through and make a study set of key terms to familiarize myself with,” said Ours.

“Then, if I needed to, I would watch a video so I could speak on any given concept with confidence.”

There were a total of 3,800 students in the state competition. Of these, 24 came from Smethport Area High School.

“I am honestly happy if they just go and have fun but it is wonderful when they do well,” said Rhoades.

Ours is excited to meet students from all over the world when she gets to Florida.

“I am looking forward to learning about other DECA clubs and bringing back ideas that we can use here,” said Ours. “I love learning about new cultures and getting to meet different types of people.”

Ours said she would highly recommend DECA membership to any student who had an interest.

“You can do what I did and make it to the state and international level if you just put in the hard work,” said Ours. “This is a great opportunity to build your skills for the future.”