The History of Marketing Education  |  DECA Inc.  |  Virginia DECA The first documented evidence of formalized education for marketing at prebaccalaureate levels in this country appears in 1905.  During that year, Mrs. Lucinda Wyman Prince, a certified high school teacher, expressed concern about the lowly condition of salesgirls in retail organizations to the Women's Education and Industrial Union (WEIR) of Boston, an organization founded in 1880 to increase the efficiency of women workers.  In cooperation with WEIR, she initiated sales training for girls who worked in Boston stores.  She included units psychology, principles of learning, good sales principles, and other aspects of the social sciences that she felt would be instrumental in facilitating the success of salesgirls.  She was able to convince Boston merchants that her trained salesgirls could outperform those who had not received such training, thus increasing store profits and employee and customer satisfaction. In 1907, Mrs. Prince convinced Filene's, a department store in Boston, to take her trained girls into their firm on a part-time basis.  IN 1908, she formally established the Union School of Salesmanship.  As part of the education methodology inplemented by mrs. Prince, students attended her school for five morning a week and then worked in stores for wages during the remainder of the day.  According to Haas (1969 - 1970), Lucinda Prince's program was the origin of the cooperative, part-time vocational education program in the United States. Source: Netherton, Dave (1994).  Philosophy, Organization, and Management of Marketing  Education Course Guide, 1, 25-26. Back to the top Between 1937 and 1946 local clubs of distributive education students were formed to fulfill the need of cooperative education students to belong, to develop socially, and to be a part of a group.  In 1944 the state clubs in the area then designated as the Southern Region, announced that they had joined together under the common name of the Distributors' Club. This association was announced at that year's American Vocational Association convention.   February 1946 saw a national planning committee appointed to develop a tentative plan for the organization of a distributive education club on a national level.  The official birth of the national organization occurred during the first Interstate Conference of Distributive Education Clubs held in Memphis, TN, on April 17-19, 1947. More than 100 students and sponsors, representing 22 states, participated in this conference.  In 1948 the organization's name was changed to The Distributive Education Clubs of America and a constitution, emblem, creed, colors, and national dues structure were approved. Seventeen states were accepted as charter members.  The DECA Foundation was legally incorporated in 1959-60.  In spring of 1953 the DECA staff moved into the building housing the AVA headquarters in Washington, D.C.  The first DECA theme was chosen for use during the 1959-60 school year (DE-Gateway to Success).  By 1969, every state in the U.S. was operating a state association of DECA.  Competitive events were refined and stabilized during the 1960s.  After a study conducted during 1973-74, a Competitive Events Reorganization task force proposed a new competency-based approach to competitive events designed to integrate the DECA organization within the instructional program of distributive education. During the early 1970s, the DECA Board of Directors and national staff prepared plans to build a National DECA Center in Reston, VA. The building was dedicated in September 1976.  Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, William Bennett, in 1988 endorsed DECA and the other vocational student organizations.  In 1989 DECA approved their mission statement of "The mission of DECA is to enhance the education of students with interests in marketing, management, and entrepreneurship".  A name change occurred in 1991 when the Board of Directors decided that the acronym, DECA, would be used in conjunction with the words, "An Association of Marketing Students." New logos were designed to reflect this change.  Current Executive Director, Dr. Ed Davis, assumed the position in 1992.  DECA celebrated its 50th year of operation during the 1995-96 school year.  Today, as we enter the next millennium, DECA's programs are growing and expanding their involvement in competitive events, community activities, and leadership opportunities. DECA's scholarship program, founded in 1962, has grown from the $4,750 awarded that first year, to well over $42,000 awarded during the 1995-96 school year.  Today DECA can be found in every state of the United States, in four U.S. territories, and in Canada. Chapters exist in high schools, career centers, community colleges, technical colleges, four-year colleges and universities, and private and parochial schools. More than 6,000 chapters involve 200,000 members in the many varied activities sponsored by DECA.     Source: (Author) Excerpted from "Program Planning and Development," Florida Department of Education.  Available online at http://www.myfloridaeducation.com/bin00029/mk_deca.htm.    Back to the top The first Virginia Distributive Education club was organized in March 1938, at Roanoke's Jefferson Senior High School with 44 members joining.  The club was purely a social one, although its name, "Retail Club," might indicate otherwise. During the next five years, clubs were organized in twelve more schools, each one with a different name.  InSeptember 1942, the thirteen local clubs formed a state organization, the "Distributors' Clubs of Virginia," and began planning for the first state convention to be held in Richmond in the spring of 1944. Under the direction of Miss Louise Bernard, State Distributive Education Supervisor, the new Virginia state club grew, and by 1947 included thirty-two schools with 638 members.  Her leadership was instrumental in the Memphis Interstate Conference of state clubs where Virginia became a charter member of a national association. During the early years, the Virginia association provided strong leadership to help ensure that DECA would become a viable national vocational youth organization.  Louise Bernard and Ralph Rush respectively, served as DECA, Inc., President and Chairman of the Board for the organization's first five years.  DECA was officially incorporated in Virginia in 1950. In 1953, the Virginia association provided funding for a national headquarters for the first DECA Executive  Secretary, George Stone.  Virginia also hosted the 1955 National DECA conference in Richmond.  During the first ten years (1947 - 1957), twenty Virginia students were elected to national office.  Two students, Leonard Maiden (1949 - 1950) and Roy Horton (1954 - 1955) served as National DECA presidents. During the second ten years (1957 - 1967) of the national association, Virginia formalized the district system forming statewide advisory board and policy committees to direct the course of the state association. James Horan, Jr. served DECA, Inc. as President and Chairman of the Board from 1960 - 1962.  Virginian Walter B. Anderson persuaded L. G. Balfour Company to strike the DECA Diamond pin.  In 1965, Ivan Perkinson was elected President of the postsecondary division of DECA. Also during the 1960's, Lucy C. Crawford of Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) completed her landmark study,  "A Competency-Based Approach to Curriculum Construction," that became the basis for the DECA competitive event program during the early 1970's.  The second decade culminated with the awarding of an Honorary Life Membership to Virginian Louise Bernard. The third decade (1967 - 1977) began with James Horan, Jr., succeeding Miss Bernard as State Supervisor.  DECA state membership increased exponentially by 3,500 in one year (1970). I. W. Baughman served on the DECA Board of Directors from 1971 - 1974.  Many Virginians were members of the DECA headquarters staff during the 1970's, like John Hudson, Lynn Rhudy, Ivan Perkinson, Dale Clark, and Marvin Brown.  Many others offered leadership and technical services on a part-time basis. The fourth decade (1977 - 1987) brought an increase in enrollment to 18,337 members.  Several research studies were conducted for DECA by the Virginia Tech staff during this time, the "Corbin Study and the "Berns Study," to name two.  Dr. Richard Lynch provided national leadership in the development of competency based competitive events, and Dr. Vivien Ely and Ettalea Kanter also provided strong leadership at the national level. Elinor Burgess was elected Vice President of the American Vocational Association (AVA) in 1978 - 1981, thus becoming another member of the DECA Board.  A permanent full-time Virginia DECA Specialist was employed in 1978, and in 1980, a complete in-service training program was given to all 358 DECA chapter advisors.  In 1980, in commemoration of National DECA's 30th anniversary, Virginia DECA state officers presented a 50 year time capsule for burial at the National DECA Center.  In 1984, Virginia DECA contributed $20,000 to the national building fund and the center's conference rooms were renamed the Virginia Rooms.  Dr. Betty Heath-Camp was elected as AVA Vice President in 1987, and began her term as a member of the DECA Board. Since 1987, Virginia DECA membership has stabilized and great effort has been made to refine and improve the Virginia local program of work for chapters.  Dr. William Price of Virginia Tech has been the leader in this effort.  James Horan retired in 1988, and James A. Gray, Jr. - then DECA Association Advisor - was named as the state's third State Supervisor. Virginia DECA offers scholarships each year to member in honor of Miss Bernard, Louis Spilman, Mrs. Crawford, and Mr. Horan.  Other scholarships have been provided by the Virginia Retail Merchants Association. Virginia DECA celebrated its 50th anniversary on March 5 - 7, 1993, at the George Washington Inn in Williamsburg, Virginia. In 2002, Virginia DECA became on the 4th state association to ever surpass the 10,000 member mark. In 2004, Virginia became the largest state association in country, with more than 11,000 members. Virginia DECA reach an historic level in 2005, where it became the first state association in the history of the organization to surpass the 12,000 member mark with 12,435 members. It again surpassed that mark with 13,065 in 2007, an accomplishment we remain quite proud of! In addition, Virginia DECA set a new precedent by placing 164 Virginians on stage at the ICDC in Orlando, Florida. Sources:  (Author). Virginia DECA, Inc., Reston, Virginia.  February, 1994. Kosloski, Michael, Virginia DECA Specialist, Norfolk VA, 2007.

 

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