DECA+Member+Retention+Ideas

Hi everyone,

I thought it may be nice to start a discussion page about our DECA member retention debate: What should we do with the left over students that don't qualify for state. A few things to keep in mind:


 * Last year, over 85 kids took medals at Area
 * About 40 kids placed in the top three of their category at Area
 * If Highland Park brings over 40 kids (up to 55) we need to stay in a neighboring hotel, not the Decatur Convention Center.

At this point, I believe the main debate is whether or not to have any sort of programming for the left over kids. On the no retention side, the points are basically
 * Kids that show their dedication by going to meetings, asking for roleplays or writing papers can and will go under the new board-centric system (the board decides who goes.)
 * Kids that don't make it on merit nor dedication aren't the kind of kids that A.) will show up to our meetings or other curriculum or B.) we want in the club.

On the pro retention idea side is
 * We had over 85 kids that took medals in Area and we can only take 40-55 of these kids. That leaves dedicated, smart people out in the dust with no further education. Aren't the ones that fail initially deserve extra help to succeed?
 * Many kids that didn't even place in Area became International competitors; how can we be so sure the system will work?
 * If we accomodate the dedicated ones and the ones that win, we may push over 40 kids which will make HP spend more money and make the State tournament more of a hassle. It'd be easier to just cut off at 40 and have the rest in some sort of extra program.

At this point, the debate is more centered around whether or not to entertain the idea of a retention program. If anyone has any ideas for a program that hopefully compromises on the above arguments, feel free to share.

Ross

Retention ideas---Natasha: (pro) We should make an effort to keep the club going for those who do not make it to the next competition because if people feel connected to the club, then they will feel more of a personal incentive and even a greater desire to work harder next year. DECA Fundraising -bake sales, pizza sales, ect...to raise money for our DECA chapter Sessions -offer more educational sessions after AREA (economics, role plays, marketing, ect..) -make these sessions available to all DECA members (the state and ICDC qualifiers too because these sessions can help them as well) DECA design contest --HPHS DECA t-shirt for next year --fliers and commercials for next year

Alex: It's fine if we have the kids who aren't moving on working fundraiser for us if they want. However, we shouldn't open our practice sessions up to kids who are no longer in the competition. If they want to go to meetings so much, they'll go from the beginning, and we'll bring them to state. If all these kids come after they're no longer in the real competition (and we shouldn't lose focus of what the REAL competition is) it's just going to prevent us from giving the main kids the personalized practice they need as they head forward, and our school will do worse at state and ICDC.