The subject of Hotel and Lodging Management was something that found Kamryn Graham.

“I didn’t pick it,” said Graham, a Valley High School junior and member of the school’s Distributive Education Clubs of America, or DECA, a business education club. “As I read about it, it was interesting, so I kept it.”

Just two years later, Graham will be competing in a statewide DECA competition Feb. 18 to 20 in Hershey alongside a dozen of her peers from Valley.

The Valley DECA club has reached new heights in its third year under teacher Nick DeFrancesco.

“It shows that our students can go and compete with these schools with different budgets and different resources,” DeFrancesco said.

DECA, a national program, aims to prepare students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.

“I try to sell kids on: the purpose is to diversify yourself and connect with other people,” DeFrancesco said.

“I want to open up doors for kids and give them the experience to connect with other kids. Year over year, I consistently have kids come back and say they’re glad they tried it. If I can make the kids glad they did it, that’s a win.”

Thirty-one students are rostered on DECA this year, DeFransesco said. Typically, the club meets once a week after school but occasionally more often.

DECA competitions test high school and college students on business knowledge through role plays, case studies and exams.

“We practice by doing role plays,” said Kaleigh Mator, senior. “We’ll see what the key performance indicators are, and we try to reach those.”

For Caden Shurina, 16, participating in DECA has been beneficial. He plans to take over his family business, Shurina Brothers nursery in Lower Burrell. He will also compete in the state tournament.

At the district DECA competition, held in September at Duquesne University, Shurina placed first in supply chain management and Graham earned first in hotel and lodging management.

“It looked fun, and I wanted to give it a try,” Shurina, a junior, said of DECA.

Mator will compete in the apparel and accessories marketing portion of the DECA competition. Even though she wants to be a pediatric nurse, being a part of the business club has been a positive learning experience.

“It helps me be able to communicate and ask more questions that are more in-depth than I used to ask,” she said.

DECA also pays dividends with students’ personal financial skills, DeFransesco said. According to the National Endowment for Financial Education, one in five teenagers in the United States lacks basic financial skills.

“It’s a skill you’re going to need,” Graham said. “You need to be able to handle money and adult situations. You need to know how to go up to someone and say what a business needs.”

Copyright ©2026— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)