Briana Eifler, Dominion’s marketing teacher and DECA advisor for the past fourteen years, has guided DECA students through their learning and competitions, and has now just joined the DECA Board of Trustees.
The DECA board of trustees is a tough task to get into and is a very prestigious title. “[Joining the Board of Trustees] it’s something you first apply to, and depending on how many people apply, everyone in our region will vote for us,” Eifler said. Eifler’s goal in her DECA career was to make it to the Board of Trustees and was very excited when she was accepted into it. “This is what I wanted to do, it’s perfect,” Eifler said.
Eifler’s involvement and knowledge with the program expands much further than the past years as the DECA advisor. “My mom was in DECA. The marketing teacher, he would always tell me I had to join. I didn’t until I took co-op where it’s a class where, if you have a job, you can actually get two credits. So it’s already working. Why not get something for it? And then I joined my junior year and dove head first,” Eifler explained.
“[After taking the course] I always knew that I wanted to be involved with DECA teaching. It’s co-curricular, so something we do within class. And the teacher that I took over for when she moved onto DECA Inc, had a really strong chapter and I knew it was a chapter I wanted to be a part of,” Eifler said.
One of Eifler’s students who has been on DECA since her freshmen and is now a senior, Claire Howard is excited for Eifler to be a part of the Board of Trustees. “I was really happy when I heard that [she was elected to the board of trustees] because it gives us a little more information at the state level, but also, I feel like she deserved it,” Howard said.
CTE Chair Terry Baker has worked with Eifler for eight years now. Baker said, “She is very knowledgeable about it, and she gets along great with kids, and she just likes to get out and see kids succeed.” Baker also gives his feelings on Eifler getting elected onto the board of trustees. “I think it is great. We need somebody up there that’s as good as she is. She’s willing to speak her mind, and we need people like that, because people hold back, but she’s willing to speak her mind and push for what she thinks is right,” Baker Said.
Eifler touches on her role for The Board of Trustees, “[The Board of Trustees] is not an individual role. There’s two regional reps and our region is made up of all of the schools in Loudoun county, and we talk to all the stakeholders. We talk to the teachers and students. What are we hearing from them? What are some main points? What are some celebrations? How can we guide Virginia DECA as a whole while representing Loudoun County and region one specifically?”
The future of Loudoun County’s DECA program now that Eifler’s a part of the Board of Trustees will start to adapt better for the students, but for now she’s just going to assess what she can do for it. “I don’t like to go in and just change anything. I want to see what’s going on, even though I’ve been a part of the organization for well over two decades. But I have not seen it from that perspective, so I’m interested to see first how things go now and then where I can help them improve,” Eifler said.
CTE Chair Terry Baker has worked with Eifler for eight years now. Baker said, “She is very knowledgeable about it, and she gets along great with kids, and she just likes to get out and see kids succeed.” Baker also gives his feelings on Eifler getting elected onto the board of trustees. “I think it is great. We need somebody up there that’s as good as she is. She’s willing to speak her mind, and we need people like that, because people hold back, but she’s willing to speak her mind and push for what she thinks is right,” Baker Said.
DECA is an international student program that helps high school students prepare for college and careers in business, marketing, and financing. The students learn through class activities as well as competitions that scale to district, state and even international.
