San Jose, California – Harker DECA hosted a Parent Night in the Nichols Atrium and Auditorium on October 25^th, 2013. This provided parents of students who do or plan to participate in DECA with more information about the conferences, what the students are doing, and opportunities for parental involvement. This information session was especially beneficial to freshman parents, which appeared to be the largest demographic in attendance.

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The Harker DECA chapter officers that hosted this event were:

• Monica Thukral, President
• Ariana Shulman, Vice-President
• Gaurav Kumar, Co-Director of PR
• Shannon Hong, Co-Director of PR
• Michael Zhao, Treasurer
• Adarsh Battu, Director of Events
• Sachin Vadodaria, Director of Individual Series Events
• Krish Sanghi, Director of Media
• Sophia Luo, Secretary/Treasurer SV DECA
• Savi Joshi, Membership Intern
• Victoria Ding, Treasurer Intern
• Annie Zhou, Written Events Intern
• Chirag Aswani, Events Intern
• Mr. Glass, Advisor

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Harker DECA annually hosts a Parent night for the aforementioned purpose, but in prior years, a single classroom was large enough to fit the attending parents. However, this year, it was moved to Nichols due to expectations of high attendance, and it was clear that the extra space was necessary.

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The night began with parents filing into the Nichols Atrium, where poster boards and computer screens were set up; this provided information about the different facets of DECA and Harker’s Business and Entrepreneurship Program. Officers welcomed parents, answered questions they had, explained the information on the screens and boards to them. Then, the event moved to the auditorium, where the presentation began.

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Mr. Glass, Harker DECA’s Advisor, was the first speaker, and he related information about Harker’s new Business and Entrepreneurship Program as a whole. After Monica Thukral, the Harker DECA President, and Ariana Shulman, the Vice President, discussed general information about the DECA and its conferences, Adarsh Battu, the Director of Events, gave the parents an overview of the events that students can compete in.

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In addition, there were a few guest speakers. One of these was Monica Kumar, a Senior Director of Marketing at Oracle and mother of Gaurav Kumar, Harker DECA’s Director of Public Relations, and she spoke about her experiences as a judge at DECA Conferences. The goal of this was to convince more Harker parents to represent the Harker DECA Chapter at conferences as judges, helping parents see firsthand what their child is doing.

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The other speaker was Harker DECA alum and former President Tiphaine Delepine, who discussed how DECA helped her find her passion in business, meet new people from around the world, and impact her decision to go to the University of Notre Dame. 

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Afterwards, parents were able to ask Mr. Glass and the officer team questions as they left, and they were strongly encouraged to sign up as a judge for DECA Conferences as well as at Harker DECA’s Business Plan Review Day. The Business Plan Review Day simulates how an actual conference goes, where a judge reviews and scores the plans for Written Events and then judges the students’ presentations. This is an extremely beneficial and useful way to prepare for actual conferences, as students get a taste of the process before diving into it. Business Plan Review Day will be held on November 23^rd, 2013, from 9 am to noon in the Library.

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Overall, the event was a huge success. The attendance, number of questions, and apparent interest were higher than ever. As the club expands, it is important to have more transparency, and it is key that parents have a solid understanding of DECA. After all, they are one of the most important groups that keeps the organization afloat.