From Solving Puzzles to Viewing Different Career Pathways

Monday, June 21, 2021
by Purnata T. - High school student

DECA LDA and learning from the comfort of my own home

Photo of Purnata
The DECA Leadership Development Academy (LDA) was an amazing experience where I was put on a path to increase my knowledge about what it means to be a leader while being able to communicate to my peers and make new friends.

During the LDA, I really loved being able to hear from different speakers with different experiences and it was fun to be able to discuss different topics with my group. My favourite activity was the team building puzzle, which was part of one of the presentations that I attended. This abstract puzzle needed to be approached with an out-of-the-box thinking. We had the opportunity to hear about the different solutions to this challenge - solutions that I hadn’t thought of before. It was really interesting to hear my group members’ points of views because it was a real eye-opener for me to apply and execute a different process to reach the same solution.

The conference helped me come out of my shell and share my ideas and opinions with not only the presenters and hosts, but the other high school student attendees as well. Because of that, DECA LDA became a great way for me to practice my networking skills. The best part was, I met a lot of new people and it was all from the comfort of my own home, which gave me a big confidence boost! You know, I just grabbed a snack, got comfy and enjoyed the conference. I really loved hearing from CPA member Laveen Jose because he conveyed different pathways that I hadn’t thought of taking before. There were also some amazing opportunities shared with us that I was happy to have been able to participate in, such as the International Career Development Conference (ICDC).