WRENTHAM, M.A. (NCC NEWS) – The high school business organization known as DECA has canceled its annual International Career Development Conference, or ICDC, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The conference was supposed to take place in Nashville, Tennessee this week.
Over 22,000 members, advisors and partners were scheduled to converge in Nashville to compete for awards and celebrate accomplishments, but the pandemic has wiped away that opportunity. ICDC is the culminating conference that students work for and look ahead to throughout the school year.
“It is the ultimate competition that students get to compete with other students from all across the United States as well as several other countries,” High School Division President D’Andre Vasquez said. “At this conference we also offer leadership opportunities through different academies. It is really just a big family reunion for the DECA year.”
The conference rotates cities each year. Common locations are Anaheim, Orlando and Atlanta. Nashville has hosted ICDC in prior years, most recently in 2016. However, the conference has become too large for the city, so this was going to be the final year DECA went to Nashville. The conference takes a long time to plan.
“It starts at the end of the last conference we had in Nashville because what we do is have a whole debrief session with the city, find areas of improvement, areas that went well,” DECA Executive Director Frank Peterson said. “Then kind of touch bases along the way. Then really when you start getting heavy into things is June of last year.”
Planning for this year’s ICDC in Nashville started back in 2016 and increased in the past year, but was all erased at one meeting.
“Starting in February when the traction of this disease exploded, we started fact finding and gathering information,” Peterson said. “We had a board meeting the weekend of March 13 through the 15 and presented to them what we had concluded. Then we made a decision and emailed all of our members on the morning of Friday the 13.”
DECA also released a statement via its online publication to alert members. With many other large events and gatherings being canceled across the country, many DECA members expected the decision.
“We kind of saw it coming,” Vasquez said. “A lot of states were putting limitations and travel bans on students, so that they couldn’t leave the state. So, we knew sooner or later it was coming.”
Even though many members knew the decision was coming, it was still difficult for the students. They work on written projects or prepare for business role plays for the entire school year in hopes to make it to ICDC.
“A lot of the seniors just broke down and started crying because it was their last year, last shot at ICDC,” member of King Philip DECA Tadhg Keller said. “Getting that stripped away from them just broke them down.”
Students compete in their own states and associations during the first two levels of competition. Then they come together for ICDC. There are fewer total competitors in each level, but the difficulty of competition increases. DECA’s process is illustrated below.
Although there are the fewest amount of competitors left by ICDC, it is the largest conference of the year because all of the states and associations come together in one place. The face and leader of the conference is the high school division president. Vasquez was elected to the position last year and served during this school year. The position requires so much work and travel that it is strongly recommended and almost required to take a gap year from school. Despite not being able to host an ICDC, Vasquez is content with his choice of differing his education.
“On a selfish level, it was something I was really looking forward to, spending a couple days with some of my best friends and hosting a great event,” Vasquez said. “But I didn’t run for myself. The reason why I ran is to try to provide this opportunity to any high school student who wishes to partake in it, and I really think that I was able to accomplish what I set out to do. So, by no means do I regret taking that gap year.”
As the president, Vasquez would have been on stage in front of the 22,000 people leading the ceremonies and running other workshops and events. ICDC is also when the officers say goodbye to the organization and its members, which Vasquez was looking forward to.
“I was involved in a very tragic car accident that ended up claiming the life of both of my parents and my grandmother,” Vasquez said. “Being on that stage and giving my farewell speech was something I was definitely looking forward to. I think it’s one of those few moments that I would have known my parents were there in spirit.”
Since ICDC has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, Vasquez will not have the opportunity to give his farewell speech on stage. DECA is, however, putting together online content to supplement for the loss of an in-person conference.
“What we wanted to do was pay tribute to ICDC this week for the seniors and individuals that aren’t going to be able to make it due to the cancelation,” Peterson said.
There are daily social media challenges for members to post pictures on different topics. The topics include:
- Monday, April 27 – #WhyDECA
- Tuesday, April 28 – #DECAAdvice
- Wednesday, April 29 – #DECAPride
- Thursday, April 30 – #DECATBT
- Friday, May 1 – #DECACompete
- Saturday, May 2 – #DECAFlex
- Sunday, May 3 – #NextLevel
Individual states and associations are also hosting their own virtual events and conducting other initiatives.
Next year’s International Career Development Conference is scheduled for April 24-27, 2021 in Anaheim, California.
