Senior Katie Sankey and Junior Nimish Bhat discuss plans for the Carmel Café. Sankey said DECA is currently working on a brand deal with Adidas and will sell its merchandise at community events.

Concluding the call-out meetings that took place earlier this month, DECA members and business teachers will begin preparations for this year’s competition season. The first competition of the school year will take place on Jan. 11 at CHS.

“Pretty soon, we will be working on projects and preparing for presentations and role plays in class,” Laura Cardamon, DECA co-sponsor and business teacher, said. “We will also host many SRT meetings for those signed up to compete in a role play in class in order to help them prepare for competitions.”

Katie Sankey, manager of a marketing satellite team for the Carmel Café, said along with preparations for competitions, DECA is planning events for the school year and trying to push marketing for the Carmel Café.

“This year, we are focusing on branching out the Carmel Café and its market,” Sankey said. “We will start to sell merchandise at athletic events and continue to push our business to the public.”