Hello everyone and welcome to the 2009-2010 DECA year and to the all new New Hampshire DECA website! My name is Mike Shaheen and I am one of your New Hampshire DECA State Officers for this year.  I am a senior this year at Nashua High School South, and I have been in DECA for two years now.  Your State Officer team has been busy getting ready for this year, and we have some updates for you to start off the year.

We have two major events coming up in October, the first of which is DECA Week.  You may recall National DECA week is scheduled for October 11-17 this year.  Up here in New Hampshire, we like to do things our own way.  In order to make DECA week include the Fall Leadership Conference, New Hampshire DECA Week is scheduled for October 25-31.

Here is a schedule of the NH DECA Week events for this year!

Monday, Oct 26: Pumpkin Day – Carving a Jack – O – Lantern is a tradition for this time of year, so we decided to take that tradition, and put our own DECA Spin on it! Carve a pumpkin with your chapter and bring it with you to the Fall Leadership Conference for your chance to win a DECA images gift certificate and a pumpkin trophy in our Pumpkin Carving contest!

Tuesday, Oct 27: Fall Leadership Conference at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester!

Wednesday, Oct 28th: Autumn DECA-ration Day – Send in pictures to the website of your school store decorated for the season, and check back into the website on the 28th to see how all the chapters did!

Thursday, Oct 29th: Donation Day – One of the points of the DECA Diamond is Civic Consciousness. The NH DECA State Officers want to use DECA week as a chance to give back to the local community. With the holiday season fast approaching and the economy worse then its been in a long time, Food Banks all across the state are in need of our help.

Friday, Oct 30th: DECA Day at a Haunted House – Join DECA members from all across the state for a day of fun and frights!

Be sure to check back in with the website for more details on each event as DECA week gets closer!

One of the bigger events coming up is our annual Fall Leadership Conference. It will be held Tuesday, October 27th at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester. Focus Training will be back for another year and have all new events to use to train DECA members for the challenges ahead! New this year, there will be a separate training for chapter officers run by a Focus Trainer and your State Officer team. This will not only prepare you for the challenges that lie ahead during your term, it will also allow you to network with the other officers which is invaluable for a successful term. On top of that, every participant will be given a long sleeve NH DECA T-shirt to wear to Louisville! This will be an event you will not want to miss!

All four officers are really excited to get the year started! This year, we all want to be as involved as we possibly can with New Hampshire DECA. We would be honored to travel to any chapter to partake in any of your meetings or events. All four officers will be checking into the website, so feel free to leave any of us a message here using the comment form below. If you want to get in contact with me personally, send me an email at mikeshaheen@yahoo.com. We are YOUR State Officer team, so please do not hesitate to get in contact with us, whether you want to ask us a question, invite us to your chapter, or just want to say hi, we will respond to everyone!

Thank you all for your support!

Mike Shaheen
2009-2010 New Hampshire DECA State Officer
Nashua High South Chapter

On October 27, New Hampshire DECA students will meet up at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester for the annual Fall Leadership Conference, a prime activity in the events planned for this school year.   Students will go through three workshops, run by Focus Training, a nationally recognized leadership training company.  New this year, a separate track for our chapter officers, who will receive special instruction on how to run their high school chapter.  A delicious buffet lunch along with special tee shirts await all conference attendees.

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