For NGHS senior Pooja Parmar, DECA is more than just four letters. The Distributive Education Clubs of America, or DECA, is a club primarily focused on marketing and hospitality. Having joined DECA in 8th grade, Pooja has not only been Co-President of NG DECA for two years, but is also the Georgia DECA VP of Career Development this year. Additionally, in April 2017 Pooja represented North Gwinnett at the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) held in Anaheim, California. At ICDC, which was attended by more than 18,000 high school and college students, Pooja and her partner, Asmarah Yaqoob, placed 1st in the event of School Based Enterprise Retail Operations, for which they had to write a 30 page report on the operations of the North Gwinnett School Store and give a 10 minute long oral presentation to a judging panel about the promotional strategies utilized by the School Store.
For her involvement in DECA, Pooja has had nothing but appreciation for the experience and knowledge that she has gained from being a member for the past five years. According to her, “It’s because of DECA that I have had so many different opportunities to travel and to meet amazing people. Networking and public speaking are some of the greatest gifts that I have gained through DECA.”
Thanks to her involvement in DECA at North Gwinnett, this sentiment is shared by other members of DECA, and as succinctly stated by Preet Desai, also a senior, Pooja Parmar is “the extremely strong leader who always puts everyone else before her.” Through her leadership, the North Gwinnett DECA has only grown in size and prominence as a result.
