As their state competition in April looms closer, students from Oxford High School’s DECA (Distribution Education Clubs of America) class came to the Oxford Board of Education’s Jan. 22 meeting to showcase a few of the projects they’ll be looking to compete with at the state and national levels.

OHS Principal Steven Wolf and teacher Steve Ruch, who has taught the DECA class for the last 23 years, presented to board trustees with a few students in tow. The two projects given as examples have previously been showcased by the Leader.

Wolf spoke highly of students Joey Farmer, Jack Cady and Anna Ibarra, who have spent the past few months working with fifth-graders on developing entrepreneurial skills. Under the DECA students’ guidance, the fifth-graders developed businesses that could compete with some of their favorite brands and presented those ideas to local fifth-graders.

Ruch also highlighted a project done by Anna Peruski, Sarah Tyrrell and Chloe Allen that taught Clear Lake Elementary students about managing finances. Since their initial project, they have also worked with middle and high school students on the topic.

“(This) group did a wonderful job,” Ruch said of the ladies.

Ruch said about half of his class goes to compete at the state level every year, and Wolf noted the students put in a great deal of extra work to get there.

“This is the hard work of our students who spend hours of work outside of school preparing these activities and really refining their craft so they can go on to states and do really, really well… We’re really proud of our DECA students, you represent our district really well,” Wolf said.

But what impressed the board most was how the two projects invested in younger students and developed the potential for mentorship between the high school and other schools.

“One of the things that I’m very proud of, and it just keeps coming up, is the way that we are mentoring (and) using programs to mentor the grades below us,” Board President Tom Donnelly said at the meeting’s end.