Since it began participating, Cherry Hill High School East has been a consistently dominant force in DECA, a nationwide organization that prepares students for careers in business and finance. As the largest and one of the most successful chapters in New Jersey, East regularly sends dozens of students to compete nationally at the International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in various marketing, finance, and management events. Exceeding regular student participation, though, Noah Pitzer (‘26) has recently been named New Jersey’s Recording Secretary for DECA, succeeding Chloe Lin (‘25) in holding this position.
The recording secretary has many obligations, including attending leadership summits, organizing workshops, and helping new chapters flourish. Given these responsibilities, the application process is rigorous to ensure only the best candidates are selected.
“You have to write a letter of intent… a page-long letter stating your interest, what you do in school, what you would do for DECA,” said Pitzer. “And then from there, it’s interview slating. So you go in, and you have to take a test based on [DECA], the background and history of DECA and the current leadership members, and then you have to score 80% on the test to move forward.”
Following this initial process, candidates begin to construct an elaborate campaign for themselves, vying to win the support of the voting delegates from various chapters.
“After the interview, you get slated for what position you’re going to run for,” said Lin. “At the State Conference, you give a speech to all of the voting delegates, and then you also run a campaign booth for basically the whole day… you have to set up decorations, like flyers, things to promote yourself.”
Despite East’s established history with DECA, Lin’s candidacy, followed by Pitzer’s, marked the first time East students attempted to run for state office in over a decade. Convincing school administrators to allow for this campaign proved another challenge in itself.
“I went into it thinking that [the advisers] would say no,” said Lin. “But I asked anyway. And then from there, I created a pitch to them, presented a slideshow on how this could benefit our chapter, and it took a little bit of convincing, but they agreed to it.”
Once elected, a student immediately begins to fulfill the various duties of their position. For the Recording Secretary, this means taking meeting minutes at the numerous state conferences, ensuring an accurate and organized record is kept for all events. Additionally, as a state officer, students must help run the DECA social media accounts, be flexible and arrange officer meetings through Zoom, and do chapter visits.
“For example, I visited Paul VI earlier this year because they are a newer chapter,” Lin said. “So we gave them advice on how to start their chapter and how to grow.”
One of the most important parts of being a state officer occurs when they attend either the Emerging Leaders Summit or Ultimate DECA Power Trip Conference, the latter of which was held in Charlotte this year. State officers run a workshop with hundreds of international attendees, and can also attend workshops themselves with officers from around the country.
Following this event, chapter leaders from different schools in New Jersey are sent to their conference in Union, New Jersey where they can collaborate with the officers and sharpen their skills by gaining valuable experience.
“The last conference is COLT [Chapter Officer Leadership Training Conference],” Pitzer said. “All the high schools send their chapter leaders, and that’s a conference where the different schools in New Jersey DECA all go to Kean University. It’s a career development conference, so there’s different workshops and speakers.”
Adding to the organizational aspect, officers are also expected to help run conferences for regular DECA members.
“I just did that with my team,” said Lin. “So we run all the sessions, with speaking and handing out the awards.”
Given all of these responsibilities, a state officer has a lot on their plate, and yet they must continue to develop their personal plans to improve the DECA experience. Beyond what he is simply expected to contribute, Pitzer detailed what he wishes to accomplish as the recording secretary for the 2025-26 school year.
“Some of my plans for this upcoming year would definitely be engaging with more chapters and making DECA more of a community by visiting different high schools, and also providing more resources so that their schools and chapters can succeed in the competition aspect,” said Pitzer. “I also want to have a chapter highlight series, where different outstanding chapters will be posted on the Instagram of New Jersey DECA.”
With her time as Recording Secretary coming to a close, Lin has been able to learn a number of valuable skills and lessons from holding her position for DECA this past year.
“I’ve learned to step outside the box in terms of networking and in terms of creativity,” Lin said. “In particular, I’m thinking of Power Trip. There were so many state officers from everywhere, and it was just really cool to be able to network with them and share ideas on what we’re doing with our state conference, or other ideas we’ve been working on. As for the creativity aspect, creating our workshops for COLT and for Power Trip, it makes us think about how we can engage staff members in a unique way that they haven’t seen before.”
The transition process is underway, and Pitzer will officially become New Jersey’s recording secretary soon. Before that happens, though, he wants to ensure that he is following the footsteps of his predecessor, and set a groundwork for future officers to come out of East.
“I believe that I will be continuing this legacy by just becoming another leader within the Cherry Hill East community,” said Pitzer. “I know we have a very strong chapter in competition, but also having a strong leadership aspect is very important. I feel like I’m definitely extending the legacy. I’m sure somebody else will run next year.”
Lin ensures that she will play an active role in the transition process, and help give Pitzer the guidance and support he needs to switch into his role.
“I remember last year, the previous recording secretary, we met and transitioned everything we had, [such as] a specific email account we have, which has all the previous meeting minutes. So I’ll transition, like those before me, and also give [Pitzer] some advice on how to succeed in this field,” said Lin.
East has an established commitment to DECA excellence, the program making up a serious part of the school community. Now with both continued success in competition and leadership, Lin and Pitzer believe this can be attributed to the strong foundation of advisers and supportive members found within their chapter.
“Our business program and our chapter advisors do a great job of influencing people to compete, and not just go into DECA to have fun, but to really take it seriously and put all of their effort in it,” said Pitzer.
And to anyone who wishes to continue East’s DECA legacy, and run for either recording secretary or another state officer position, Lin gives this advice:
“Just go for it. It might seem daunting at first, given how expensive the application is, or just not being sure what the role entails. But it’s definitely a rewarding experience, and I think it’s worth every bit of effort you put in. Put in the work, and good things will happen.”
With many students preoccupied with ICDC, the competition aspect of DECA and the dozens of national qualifiers are often given relentless praise. However, it is the leadership who takes it upon themselves to help other students achieve success who plays an equal, if not a greater role in East’s DECA dominance.