On Mar. 2nd, 2025, the top placers at the Student Leadership Conference (SLC) in Virginia Beach, Virginia hosted by Virginia DECA successfully achieved their qualification to make it to the next stage, the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Orlando, Florida.
Students must be placed among the top seven to eight groups in their category to qualify for the conference. Making it to this stage is no easy task, as qualifiers spent many hours daily practicing the roleplay and test portions for their category before SLC, which took place from Mar. 1st through Mar. 3rd.
John Champe’s DECA Chapter has hundreds of students, but only about 30-35 students qualified for ICDC, which will take place from Apr. 26th through Apr. 29th.
“Me and my partner decided that individually we would fundraise for the trip by making people more aware about what DECA is,” qualifier Rithvika Yengula said. “We started a GoFundMe, and told donors about how important competing at ICDC was to us.”
However, once students qualify for ICDC, they still need to fund their trip to Orlando. Even though some may place very highly for their category, DECA does not pay for competitors’ trips like some VHSL-sanctioned sports may do.
Additionally, these costs come after students pay more than $400 to go to SLC. From the moment SLC ends to the payment due date for ICDC, competitors have to raise around $1700 to fund their own trip to ICDC. This causes students to find creative ways to raise money, including asking for funds from family and friends, starting up fundraisers, or finding a part-time job.
Champe DECA is doing a Krispy Kreme fundraiser to raise money for ICDC qualifiers, a spring field trip, an end-of-year potluck, and a roleplay competition in May. DECA members will have to use their business and sales skills to raise funds for themselves and their fellow members to bring back some trophies this year.
