History
of Louisiana DECA
The first marketing curriculum was first taught
in Louisiana in 1940. DECA, the student professional association,
was organized in 1946 to expand the curriculum and offer competitive
events to the students. Representatives of 13 marketing programs across
the state met that year to lay the foundation for a state association
and Louisiana representatives attended the first two national conferences
in 1947 and 1948 and was one of the original charter member states.
The first Louisiana DECA Constitution was adopted at its state conference
in 1948.
The first Louisiana State Advisor was Donovan
R. Armstrong (1945-55). Other state advisors have been L.W. Ferguson
(1955-63), Tom G. Hollimon (1963-64), William E. Johnson (1964-65),
H.E. Ruppert (1965-68; 1973-80), Kevlin B. Braum (1968-70), Carol
Borskey (1970-73; 1982-2000), Martha Kyzer (1980-82), Deborah Wilson
(2000-2003), and Paul Grethel (2003-present). Mark Bednarz of
Thibodaux was elected as one of DECA’s national officers in the earlier
years and Toni Martin served as a national Alumni chair. Since
2000 La. DECA has also hired a Conference Coordinator to plan the
competitive events for CDC and handle the hotel arrangements for Fall
Leadership, CDC and ICDC. Mary Flowers has been the Conference
Coordinator since 2003.
Today over 100 charters have been awarded
to Louisiana schools. Membership is open to students, advisors, alumni,
and professionals. Louisiana state dues for students are $8/year;
national dues are also $8/year. Both state and national dues
are sent in to the National DECA Office.
Louisana DECA has many
conferences during the school year. The Fall Leadership Conference
is held in early October and is generally for chapter leaders to organize
and plan their chapter action plan to focus on what they want to accomplish
during the school year through DECA activities. The La. DECA
Sports & Entertainment Marketing Career Conference is held in
January/February and is used to expose members to marketing-related
careers in Sports Marketing and in Entertainment Marketing. The
NBA New Orleans Hornets have teamed up with La. DECA to help bring
this conference to life. The Louisiana State Career Development
Conference (CDC) is held in Baton Rouge in the spring of each year.
To meet the needs of its student members, chapters and advisors, the
State CDC has emerged, not just as a competitive events program, but
as a complete leadership experience. Additionally, state
officers participate in leadership training in Baton Rouge during
the summer months.
Louisiana DECA has had the support of outstanding
businesses and businesspeople throughout the years. The Louisiana
Retailers and the Sears, Roebuck Foundation, and Winn Dixie were the
first to contribute support to the state association. In 1987 National
DECA awarded Nick Perez, president of the Louisiana Retailers, the
National DECA Award of Merit at the Career Development Conference
in New Orleans for his and his organizations support of Louisiana
DECA. Currently, the Louisiana Retailers continue their support of
the marketing programs through grants that marketing educators can
get for their classrooms through MERA (Marketing Education-Retail
Alliance).
