Have you ever seen the popcorn sold out of the main office during lunch and learn? Well, that’s Springfield Township High School’s business competition club, DECA. However, DECA isn’t Springfield’s only competition-based club; they also offer YAG and Academic Team.
DECA
Distributive Education Clubs of America, or “DECA” is a competitive business club offered in numerous high schools nationwide.
Springfield DECA’s Administrator, Mr. Levin, has led the club members through two competitive events this school year: Districts and States. Districts were held at Bucks County Community College in December 2023, resulting in over 20 students qualifying for States, which occurred in February 2024 in Hershey, PA. The students worked hard over this multiple-day excursion, with award-winning performances from Juniors Luke Sharpe and Kazuya Kiguchi, as well as Sophomores Joanna Ye and Madeline Lodge.
Unfortunately, as opposed to previous years, no students qualified for the ICDC (International Career Development Conference, or “Nationals.” However, current club president Benjamin Luce describes how “[DECA] expects to have some ICDC qualifiers next year” as a result of “using this year as motivation to prepare for 2025.”
YAG
Springfield Township High School’s Youth and Government (“YAG”) club will attend the YAG Model Convention in April of 2024. For three days, the club will join members from numerous other Pennsylvania schools in the State Capitol, Harrisburg. The students will act as a “real” Government, with each having their respective Legislative positions. They will work to pass laws, raise awareness on specific local issues, and vote on bills. Each student attending has brought their own Bill and will attempt to have it passed during this convention.
Matthew Hay (Junior) expressed his excitement about potentially passing his bill, which focuses on “preventing the banning of books in Pennsylvania High Schools and Middle Schools.” Hay also emphasizes how YAG is “a fun and great way to get involved with your community politically and to push your own ideas out there.”
Academic Team
This past February, the Springfield Townships Academic Team competed in the annual county-wide academic competition hosted this year by the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit. Both public and private schools from across Montco compete in several rounds of a “quiz bowl” to get a chance to move on to the state competition in Harrisburg. Although the team did not qualify for the playoff round, Club Advisor Herr Martin noted how “this year’s team did exceptionally well, especially considering we were such a young team competing against a few well-established older teams that consisted mostly of seniors and juniors.”
