DECA Provs & A Reflection from an ICDC Qualifier

By Brie Goodly ’26, Editor-in-Chief; Edited by Kat Willson ’26, Editor-in-Chief

February is a fascinating time for the Ridley Business Club (RBC) because early February always marks the highly awaited annual Ontario DECA Provincial Championship. On February 7th, the Sheraton Centre Hotel in Toronto saw over 7,000 students from approximately 300 schools in Ontario, truly emphasizing the seriousness of the DECA competitive process. Ridley’s future business leaders headed up to Toronto during this eventful weekend, and I believe that it’s safe to say that our Tigers used their hard work and dedication to represent Ridley to a high degree. DECA, formerly known as the Distributive Education Club of America, is a large non-profit student organization that aims to prepare students for future careers and to build future leaders.

The official international DECA organization currently holds almost 300,000 student members and is conducted in multiple countries, including Canada, the United States, and China. DECA is a business-focused club, with its members having the ability to compete in events that span business law, sports management, and marketing. While competing in DECA, members can compete in either a written event or an oral case event. Oral cases in DECA indicate a role-play competition, meaning that competitors will be given case studies once they arrive at their competition setting. After reviewing the case study, the competitors are given a short amount of time to prepare their case solution, which is then presented to a trained judge. On the other hand, written events require time outside of the competition to prepare, especially since a formal business report and a completed presentation are needed for presentation day. Both event options include a diverse array of sub-categories, and we saw active Ridley competitive potential in many of these intriguing events.

After passing the required entrance exam, fifteen members of the Ridley Business Club received the incredible opportunity to compete at the Ontario Provincial Competition. Ridley’s young business leaders competed in events ranging from Finance Operations Research, Entrepreneurship Innovation, and Buying & Merchandising. Due to the excellence of Ridley’s DECA members, many Ridley students were able to represent their school on the Sheraton stage during the awards ceremony. Congratulations to our Head Editors-in-Chief, Rawnie Sun ’25 & Rebecca Liu ’25, for placing in the Top 10 of the Integrated Marketing Campaign Event. We would also like to give props to Evan Bosela ’26 & Kyrillos Aziz ’26 for also winning an Ontario DECA medal. Winning an Ontario DECA medal is a huge honour that should be celebrated, and we are so proud of the Ridleians who have made this accomplishment!

Furthermore, the common incentive for competing in a DECA event is to qualify for the DECA International Career Development Conference, which is occurring this year in Orlando, Florida. As someone lucky enough to become an Ontario DECA Provincial Champion, I view my ICDC qualification as a symbol of the passion and hard work put into this journey.

I am very proud to say that Linda Yu ’26 and I have qualified for ICDC this year, and we are now on the path to international recognition. An ICDC qualification always seemed like a far reach to me; even though qualifying was always my goal, ICDC has just seemed too distant to accomplish. Now, I view this award as a reflection of the dedication Linda and I put into our business report, presentation, and props. Linda and I teamed up for DECA’s franchise business plan event, which is part of the entrepreneurial cluster of DECA events. Our participation in this event was also heavily inspired by the common entrepreneurial spirits we share, especially since business ownership is a huge goal for me in the future. We agreed on selecting Chick-fil-A as our new franchise of choice: I came up with the idea of Chick-fil-A because the store has been one of my favourite choices for fast food. As an American student at Ridley, many would know that I frequently express my frustrations about the lack of good fast-food options in St. Catharines, especially since I was used to seeing Chick-fil-A on every corner while growing up in Texas.

Like we are taught in IB Business, I incorporated this problem into a developed plan for DECA, and Linda and I presented a mock Chick-fil-A franchise restaurant in Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls. I knew I wanted to stand out creatively during my time at Provincials, and this preparation was marked by our homemade Chick-fil-A t-shirts, red blazers, and even a named mannequin (shoutout to Christina!). Before our experience in the competition, Linda and I spent long days, nights, and even our winter break perfecting our report or practicing our speech.

The moment Linda and I were called on stage to accept our Provincial Champion award, I felt a sense of relief. Though I knew that no matter what happened, I would be proud of my DECA journey, receiving the Ontario DECA plaque reminded me that hard work and ambition would be rewarding. It reminded me that even when I didn’t win first place or receive an award, my time working on a craft always translates into a learning experience and will help make me a more educated, athletic, or well-rounded individual. Lastly, I am proud to announce that Linda and I will travel to Florida with more familiar Ridley faces! That’s right, Mark Liu ’26, Adrian Donath ’26, & Corey Gao ’26 have also qualified for Internationals! This was awarded to them for their excellence in the Business Solutions Event, in which they collaborated with the local non-profit Raft. Competing in Florida is the next step in my business journey, and I cannot wait to see where the business field will bring me next!