Two Trumbull High School beneficiaries of Business Education Initiative Mini-Grants were on display at Thursday’s BEI breakfast at the Library. BEI Chair Vince Fini introduced both.
Todd Manuel, THS Business Teacher told the group that BEI’s Mini-Grants “enhance student learning” and show students how classroom learning prepares them for the future. BEI, he said, is funding more than 25 programs involving over 1,200 students. “We’re very proud of our accomplishments.”
Manuel is also Faculty Advisor for the school’s Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA), an extra-curricular program open to THS Honors Marketing Program students. DECA helps prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in global business.
Senior Carly Goroff said DECA provides “first hand information about business and provides lessons outside the classroom.” At the personal level Ms. Goroff said she became “more competent at public speaking and business problem solving.”
DECA runs state and national competitions in which students vie with peers in their knowledge of business topics. They are challenged with a written test of knowledge of specific business topics, then participate in a role playing scenario.
After doing well in the state competition, eight students traveled to Anaheim, CA to compete at the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in exercises that included over 16,000 students from across the country and a short list of foreign countries. There they went through the same, but more intense exercises, including role playing scenarios with executives of area businesses.
All six THS students who competed at ICDC finished in the top 100 – an outstanding accomplishment given the number of competitors and the size of the conference.
But Anaheim was not all work. The students worked hard trading pins with members of other groups, and for the fourth consecutive year came back with pins from all 50 states. They were also treated to touring several of the popular attractions in the area, from Knott’s Berry Farm to In-N-Out Burgers.
The other showcased program was Police Cadet Explorer Post 659.
Fini introduced THS Career Center Director Shirley Tyzska, and police officers and post leaders Tim Fedor and Bill Ruscoe, and five cadets. Tyzska said this program gives students – girls as well as boys – the opportunity to learn first hand about careers in law enforcement.
All cadets go through (endure?) a week of “hard core boot camp” in Hartford, led by the same instructors who train regular police cadets.
The cadets spoke about what they gained from the program – “getting a leg up on their our competitors in the profession,” learning how to interact with the community, becoming a team and “sharing emotions with fellow cadets,” and giving and receiving respect. Learning leadership was a common thread.
David Ruiz, who is “aging out” after six years as a cadet, said when he entered the post he weighed 230 pounds. He looked to have lost the better part of 40 pounds, and commented that he “put in a lot of time and effort to training” and has helped him “become the man I am today.”
Fini commented “we’re in good hands.”
