Recruiting New Members by Bartram Trail High DECA

January Chapter Chatter
Bartram Trail High School DECA
By: Mikayla Oko; Four year member; secretary.

 How does your chapter recruit new members?

            Bartram Trail DECA runs through Bartram Trail High School’s VyStar Academy of business and finance. The BT chapter has always relied on the academy for member recruitment. We relied on the academy teachers encouraging students to join, and hoped word of mouth would work in our favor. This all changed this year though. Bartram Trail DECA has experienced a whole new approach to recruitment process since this year’s officer elections.

            Our vice president, Dorthea West, and I made extensive efforts to increase our membership this year. Between the two of us, we spoke to almost every VyStar class about DECA and our past experiences with the club. We emphasized how well DECA builds a resume and the experience it provides. Our president, Landon Hughes, and I also spoke at a presentation that was for VyStar Academy for parents. We told them about the opportunities DECA would provide their children with if they chose to join. Bartram Tail has never had a considerably large DECA chapter, usually around sixty members, but our goal as officers was to change this. Through our efforts, we succeeded by acquiring one-hundred and seventy-nine members. We have broken Bartram Trail DECA’s membership record which will help set the chapter up for future success and growth. All of our chapter’s officers this year are seniors, but our large membership this year will provide a strong enough pool of people to continue with motivated officers in the future.