This weekend, Harker Business Club (HBC) members showcase their entrepreneurship and represent the school at the annual three-day DECA States Conference. Their journey there, however, involved much conflict.

Sixteen members of HBC were faced with an ultimatum on January 30: either forfeit from DECA competitions for the rest of the year or attend a Saturday detention for five hours.

The primary event leading up to this situation was the traditional awards ceremony that occurred towards the end of the Silicon Valley DECA Conference at the San Jose Marriott on January 6.

Due to varying misconceptions based on past experience with DECA events, many HBC members had arrived late to the three-hour awards ceremony.

“[For] my roommate and I in particular, we were late because we assumed the awards ceremony would be a rolling [one], where we could drop in whenever we wanted,” Emily Lin (11) said. “We probably just misinterpreted the importance of being present when [the ceremony] started.”

As a result of such tardiness, the administration felt that it was necessary to warn HBC members who were late to the awards ceremony. According to various HBC members, the administration expressed that its principal concern was in regards to the potential misrepresentation of the school at events as public and significant as DECA conferences.

Consequently, the students were given two options: they could miss the annual states competition or attend a Saturday five-hour detention with a fee of $125.

“It’s important to be on time for events, as professional behavior and punctuality are expected of DECA students,” HBC officer Simran Singh (10) said. “Since conferences run on a very tight schedule, the delays caused by late students affected everyone else as well. The ban from states was harsh, but when our ceremony was delayed by over half an hour, some consequences needed to be administered.”

About 75 percent of the involved HBC members decided to take the Saturday detention. According to third-year HBC member Neeraj Baid (12), the chief reasoning behind this decision was the hard work and dedication with which HBC members had prepared for the conference in Silicon Valley, where several students had placed in a multitude of events.

“I think that it is more important to represent our school on the podium than worry about whether or not we are sitting in the audience, which maybe [the administration] didn’t recognize,” Neeraj said. “I don’t think preventing us from being 10 minutes late is worth having students look at the club as not fun and strict.”

Although many of the students were initially upset or disappointed at the idea of receiving repercussions for an unintentional mistake and at the prospect of missing states, several eventually came to terms with it.

“Frankly, we were not happy,” Neeraj said. “We found it unreasonable and ridiculous. […] Eventually, I figured giving up a couple of hours on a Saturday is worth three days with my friends, competing and hopefully winning.”

Unbeknownst to several HBC members at the time, other negotiations were still in progress.

In an attempt to help the club members as much as possible, a few of the officers spoke to the administration to create alternative repercussions for those who worked hard to become qualified for states. Eventually, their efforts succeeded.

HBC officers had created a deal in which those who sincerely wanted to attend states could still go by taking the Saturday five; however, they could also get a portion of the fee for the detention reimbursed based on how many hours each individual dedicated to volunteering for the Sadies dance, which is being co hosted by HBC, creating a third and more favorably received option for HBC members.

The annual DECA California State Career Development Conference is held from February 28 to March 3 at Santa Clara Marriott.