BHS offers business classes, DECA club; Clear Fork Bank makes donation to student organization
By Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
At a time when a majority of teens are interested in running their own businesses, Breckenridge High School is offering classes and reviving an old organization to help local students become better trained to follow their dreams. Classes in entrepreneurship and other business topics complement the newly reorganized DECA student organization.
According to the organization Junior Achievement USA, 60 percent of American teens are more interested in starting their own business than working at a traditional job, and 37% would be interested in programs in-school or after-school that focus on teaching entrepreneurship.
Melinda Lane said she enjoys teaching business and entrepreneurship classes at Breckenridge High School, as well as advising the newly reorganized DECA student organization. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
That’s where BHS and teacher Melinda Lane are meeting the needs of the students. The school offers several business-related classes that Lane teaches, and she and the students have started up a new DECA club.
DECA is an international organization focused on preparing young leaders and entrepreneurs for college and careers. The original organization was in the 1940s and “DECA” was an acronym for Distributive Education Clubs of America, helping students in the DE program, which involved students who were received on-the-job training at part-time jobs as part of their education. In the 1990s, the organization dropped the longer name to reflect its international reach and became simply DECA.
BHS hasn’t had a DECA club in many years, Lane said, but the current members are actively participating in projects such as conducting marketing surveys, putting together business plans and other related activities. Through DECA, they can apply for scholarships and compete in contests, in addition to the local events. They also have a community service project to help others in Breckenridge.
Each month, Lane invites a speaker from the local business community to speak to the students as they study topics such as business opportunities, market research, financial literacy, etc.
At a recent DECA meeting, Jonathan Newton, executive vice president with Clear Fork Bank’s Breckenridge location, presented the organization with a donation from the bank.
“If you can support the kids and learning about the general business climate and how things are done long term, that benefits the community, benefits the bank, benefits everything,” Newton said about the donation. “Hopefully some of these kids stay home or come back home. I did, and a lot of other people who work in the bank did. I just think it’s really helpful to have a picture of what the world looks like outside of school, for when they hit the ground running, if that’s in a couple of years, or a few years, or whatever they do. It’s just good background knowledge for them to have, and we support that.”
Lane said the club would determine exactly what they could spend the funds on but that she was hoping to use it to pay the students’ dues or travel expenses, etc. The local DECA members would like to be able to attend the national convention in Georgia this year.
Lane said she enjoys teaching the business classes and advising the DECA club. “That’s right up my alley, since I’ve been in business, my dad and I had a business in Arlington, and then I had a business in Burleson,” she said.
She is semi-retired from serving as a local preacher and said that a church is also like a business. “It operates like a church, but you have to run it like a business,” Lane said.
Cutline, top photo: At a recent BHS DECA meeting, Jonathan Newton, executive vice president with Clear Fork Bank’s Breckenridge location, presented the organization with a donation from the bank. Pictured from left are DECA members Malia Dauer, Rylee Woodrum, Dulce Rodriguez, Landen Vela, club President C.J. Duran, Dirk Miller and Christian Lechner, with Jonathan Newton and Melinda Lane, teacher and club adviser. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
