<p>Like others mentioned, keep your grades up. A lot of students slack their first year and mess up their GPA with some of the easier classes.</p>
<p>As far as DECA, I’m not sure how it works at your school, but I initially joined because my co-op class (work for credit) required me pay their annual dues. My teacher pressured me to sign up for their first competition, I tried it, won, then eventually advanced to the international finals. Ended up really enjoying it and got a ton from the class/organization: work experience, leadership position, volunteer work, introduction to networking, team work, the chance to improve my presentation skills, travel, party, resume help, etc etc.</p>
<p>It worked out for me b/c I was ‘passionate’ about it, but just be aware that it’s more of a marketing/management/entrepreneurship organization.</p>