DECA: What’s in Store for 2025-26
GHS DECA state officer Bailey Kumlien meets with Senator Steve Daines. Photo provided by Bailey Kumlien.
Gallatin High School’s DECA store can be spotted before students see its neon logo. A line of students, chatting between classes, leads you to the establishment on A-wing’s second floor. DECA has some new developments for this school year, and their leadership has been hard at work over the summer making everything run smoothly.
DECA stands for Distributive Education Clubs of America, and its main focuses are on finance, hospitality, business management, and marketing. As a member of DECA, students have two event options. One is research based, in which club members spend a semester working on an essay, spanning about 10-20 pages depending on the competitive event, before completing a presentation at a state conference. The other type is roleplay, which is somewhat comparable to speech and debate. In these events, participants and their judges assume roles., Roleplay events have varying levels of preparation, although significantly less than written research events. Roleplays allow club members to have more control over their workload.
Being a part of DECA can also give you significant real-world business experience, and allows you to become familiar with management and customer service at the club store without having a real job. DECA is highly regarded on college and scholarship applications.
The DECA store has been the subject of some of the 2025-26 updates in the club, one of which is the new vice president of store operations, Abed Mehmood. Mehmood is a junior and started at DECA his freshman year. The valuable experience and knowledge that the club provided encouraged him to continue, when last year he ran for leadership. As the new store manager, he hopes to keep the store as organized as possible, as well as clean and in stock.. Although there are challenges with any new position, the previous presidents’ methods provide a solid foundation, and Mehmood is hopeful that the store can make money for club members.
The club store is an integral part of how DECA operates, and without it, there wouldn't be enough money for the members to go to the state or international conferences. This is why their merchandising store at Van Winkle Stadium, new this year, could be a game changer in terms of costs. This new opportunity came over the summer, and DECA is now the sole merchandise vendor for football games held near Bozeman High School. The club’s leadership is hoping to not only improve their sales with more advertising, but also work at other games. Mehmood believes that this new store will not only help with getting more revenue but will also provide the members with a new workplace where they can experience a different environment.
Even more encouraging for DECA is the new status of one of their senior leadership members, Bailey Kumlien. Kumlien won the position of one of DECA’s four state officers and stated, “I wanted to become a state officer specifically just because I love DECA so much, and that was just something I could do to get myself more involved in DECA and take that next step.” And it’s no surprise she won the role, given her passion and experience with business. Her father was a financial advisor, and this exposure to business and finances led her to join DECA her freshman year. After an encouraging 1st place victory her freshman year, Kumlien was excited to continue to put her all into DECA the following years. After going through the interview process at last year’s state conference, she was announced as the new officer on stage. She now hopes to be able to improve the state conference and spread more awareness about DECA, especially through sharing her story and her aspiration to continue with business in college.
Kumlien has several specific goals for DECA as a leadership member, the first being to excel in her own competitive events. She has started a “Financial Literacy Project,” and has enjoyed making it a success. This project has been about teaching younger students about finance. She has gotten to talk to the middle schoolers and teach them about various financial concepts, for example, the difference between a credit and a debit card. Overall, Kumlien hopes to be able to improve students’ experience with DECA and help them potentially discover a passion for business they might not have known they had.
Something else important to Kumlien is improving the state conference. Over the summer, she undertook a ton of fundraising. Each officer had a goal of around $2,800, and they worked on finding business partners that would align with DECA. The state officers also came up with four goals for the conference, each taking on one. They are hoping to improve networking, social media presence, participation, and a part of the conference called “DECA After Dark.” DECA After Dark is a night at the state conference with different activities, including movies, line dancing, casino games, a dessert lounge, and lots of opportunities to meet new people. Kumlien says the whole conference is a great opportunity to meet people from around the state, who likely share some of your interests. Top finishers at the state conference also have the opportunity to go to the international conference, this year held in Atlanta, Georgia.
As state officer, Kumlien also had the opportunity to visit Washington D.C. in June. It was her first time in D.C., and Montana’s DECA delegation did lots of training for the conference, worked on setting up the Program of Leadership, and got to meet Montana’s Senators, Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy. They were able to talk with the Senators and tell them about what DECA is. They got a tour of Steve Daines’s office and a tour of the capital. They were also able to do a lot of team bonding, ensuring that everyone would work well together and everything would go as efficiently as possible this year.
If DECA sounds interesting to you, their leadership has some advice. Both Kumlien and Mehmood encourage starting early. The work experience, business knowledge, and money could be invaluable in the future, the pair says. And in Kumlien’s words, “Don't be scared to try new things, because I was really scared to try and be state officer, but I'm so grateful that I did it now. I was also scared to join DECA, but it's obviously become a very big part of my life.”
