Giant Campus Blog

DECA Picks Giant Campus for First Ever Online High School Chapter
2009 Washington DECA Advisor of Year to be Giant Campus’s DECA advisor

SEATTLE — August 17, 2010 — Giant Campus (www.giantcampus.com), a nationally recognized leader in innovative technology, marketing and business education programs for youth and adults, today announced that it has formed the first online DECA chapter in coordination with Washington DECA. DECA is a student organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.

“Giant Campus is a perfect partner because it’s located right in our backyard in Seattle, is one of the leading online learning companies and has been preparing students for business-related careers since 1997,” said Washington DECA Executive Director Shanna LaMar. “We recognize that business no longer takes place entirely in-person and that’s why we’ve decided to launch this first- of-its-kind chapter, where students from all over Washington State can collaborate through a mix of virtual and in-person meetings.”

By being part of Washington DECA, Giant Campus’s marketing and entrepreneurship students will have the opportunity to participate in DECA competitions and events worldwide. As part of the program, students will operate their own online store, and will work in teams to create and present business and marketing plans at competitions. Lori Jacobs, the 2009 Washington DECA Advisor of the Year and a business and marketing education teacher at Auburn High School, will guide Giant Campus chapter participants through each of these competitions and events in her role as Giant Campus DECA advisor.

“I’m looking forward to helping launch a chapter which promises to change how our young business leaders learn life-long skills,” said Jacobs. “With the Giant Campus chapter, the barriers of geography, and a dedicated advisor are gone. Students in rural and metropolitan areas, and in private and public schools will have a platform to share ideas on a daily basis.”

Membership is open to all Washington State high school students who meet DECA membership requirements, do not attend a school with a DECA chapter and enroll in one of Giant Campus’ business courses. For fall, students taking Introduction to Entrepreneurship or Introduction to Marketing are eligible to join the online chapter.

“Being handpicked by DECA to launch this online chapter is an honor,” said Giant Campus Founder and CEO Pete Findley. “At Giant Campus, we are committed to providing a robust business and marketing curriculum for our students, and DECA membership is a key element to our program.”

Since our school launch last week our Enrollment Advisors have had the great opportunity to talk with about 150 high school teens at a local private high school. The response from students and teachers has been incredible!

Many students are interested and have signed-up for the classes that best suit their interests. The below video was played during our time at the school, and it sparked the students and got them really excited about our new class, Computer Aided Design (CAD). Check it out!

The private school’s teachers are working fast on making our spring classes available to the students. The DECA / Marketing teacher is nuts about our program and is currently working on offering our classes during a period or more of school, making the classes easily available to all the students. Our Entrepreneurship class is great for students interested in DECA and marketing! The web design teacher is signing up the entire class for our web design class, to help advance interested students along with dedicated expert instruction.

This is just a quick example of how one school is realizing the complementary educational opportunities with online learning. We look forward to working with more schools in offering valuable technology classes to students across the state!