PLUM CITY – The Wolf Den, the school-based enterprise at Plum City High School, was among 728 school-based enterprises around the world achieving gold-level certification for the 2023-2024 school year and will be recognized during DECA’s International Career Development Conference this April 27-30, 2024, in Anaheim, Calif.

A school-based enterprise (SBE) is an entrepreneurial operation in a school setting that provides goods and services to meet the needs of the market. SBEs are managed and operated by students as hands-on learning laboratories that integrate National Curriculum Standards in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. DECA advisors have utilized this effective educational tool for over four decades to provide their students with realistic and practical learning experiences that reinforce classroom instruction, enhance 21st Century skill development, and prepare students for college and careers.

The Plum City DECA members who contributed to the certification were McKenzie Bauer and TriChelle Smaller with the assistance of their DECA chapter advisor, Melissa Andrle. The SBE at Plum City High School has operated for five years and is to be commended for this achievement.

“DECA’s School-based Enterprise Certification Program is a rigorous process designed to help DECA members demonstrate their classroom learning in a practical, learning laboratory, and then translate that into meaningful outcomes,” said Christopher Young, CAE, Chief Program Officer at DECA Inc. “These DECA members are practicing important workplace readiness skills while preparing for college and careers.”

DECA’s School-based Enterprise Certification Program provides recognition for outstanding achievement by school-based enterprises and motivates SBEs to strive for excellence and growth. SBEs can be certified at three levels: bronze, silver or gold. In order to apply for the certification, SBEs must submit extensive documentation that explains how the SBE demonstrates the practice of various marketing and retail standards. A review committee evaluates the documentation to determine which level of certification has been achieved. DECA’s School-based Enterprise program is sponsored by Otis Spunkmeyer Inc. and Pop Chips/You Need This.

Andrle said she is proud of Bauer and Smaller because they are outstanding role models for both the Plum City DECA Chapter and the entire school community.

“Their dedication and commitment are inspiring. It took them all of fall semester to complete the 40-page document that earned our school store a gold certification,” Andrle said. “In California, they will present on the topic of Product Management (how we choose vendors, plan merchandise assortment, determine stock turnover, and more). After competing, the girls will participate in a school-based enterprise workshop where they will learn new innovative ideas to enhance our school store.”

DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs with a career interest in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA enhances the preparation for college and careers by providing co-curricular programs that integrate into classroom instruction, apply learning, connect to business and promote competition. DECA student members leverage their DECA experience to become academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders. DECA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with nearly 250,000 members in 4,000 high school and college chapters in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Germany. For more information about DECA, visit www.deca.org

Submitted by Melissa Andrle