Common Grounds, The Shack, and WRHS Bank, the three school-based enterprises (SBEs) at Washburn Rural High School, were among 851SBEs achieving Gold Level Certification for the 2024-2025 school year. WRHS will be recognized during DECA's International Career Development Conference, April 26-29, 2025, in Orlando, Florida.

SBEs are entrepreneurial operations in a school setting that provide goods and services to meet the needs of the market. SBEs are managed and operated by students as hands-on learning laboratories that integrate National Curriculum Standards in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA advisors have utilized this effective educational tool for over four decades to provide their students with realistic and practical learning experiences that reinforce classroom instruction, enhance 21st Century skill development, and prepare students for college and careers.

With the assistance of their DECA chapter advisor, Brian McFall, the WRHS DECA members who contributed to the certification were Marianne Christensen, Cora Genovese, Nicholas He, Keegan Knudtson, and Kailyn Petersen. The SBE's at WRHS have operated for 10 years and are to be commended for this achievement.

"DECA's School-based Enterprise Certification Program is a rigorous process designed to help DECA members demonstrate their classroom learning in a practical, learning laboratory, and then translate that into meaningful outcomes," said Christopher Young, CAE, Chief Program Officer at DECA Inc. "These DECA members are practicing important workplace readiness skills while preparing for college and careers."

DECA's School-based Enterprise Certification Program provides recognition for outstanding achievement by school-based enterprises and motivates SBEs to strive for excellence and growth. SBEs can be certified at three levels: bronze, silver or gold. In order to apply for the certification, SBEs must submit extensive documentation that explains how the SBE demonstrates the practice of various marketing and retail standards. A review committee evaluates the documentation to determine which level of certification has been achieved. DECA's School-based Enterprise program is sponsored by Otis Spunkmeyer Inc.

About DECA Inc.
DECA is a career and technical student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs with a career interest in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA enhances the preparation for college and careers by providing co-curricular programs that integrate into classroom instruction, apply learning, connect to business and promote competition. DECA student members leverage their DECA experience to become academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible, experienced leaders. DECA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with over 287,000 members in more than 4,000 high school and college chapters in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Germany. For more information about DECA, visit www.deca.org.