Utica High School store goes for - and gets - the gold

The School-Based Enterprise (SBE) at Chieftain Connection of Utica High School, Michigan was among the 137 school stores in the United States achieving Gold Level Certification (or Gold Level Re-certification) this year and will be recognized at DECA’s International Career Development Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The students that worked on the certification were Amalia Nimo, Lukas Koja & Andrew Ackerman with the assistance of their advisor Dana Boice. The school store at Utica High School has operated for 30 years.

School-based Enterprises are effective educational tools in helping to prepare students for the transition from school to work or college. For many students, they provide the first work experience; for others, they provide an opportunity to build management, supervision and leadership skills.

While some in the education community have only recently discovered the value of school-based enterprises, marketing educators and DECA advisors have used them as a powerful learning lab for more than four decades.

DECA’s School-based Enterprise (SBE) Certification Program was developed to provide recognition for outstanding achievement by school-based enterprises and to motivate SBEs to strive for excellence and to grow.

School stores can be certified at three levels: Bronze, Silver or Gold.  In order to apply for the certification, SBEs must submit extensive documentation showing how they have achieved set standards that are outlined in the certification guidelines.

After the documentation is submitted, a review committee evaluates the documentation to determine which level of certification has been achieved.

Complete information about DECA’s School-based Enterprise Certification Program can be found at www.deca.org/sbe.