The Smoke Signal

By: Anjali Kanthilal

In early November, DECA announced their yearly Creative Idea Challenge. The competition tested middle school, high school and college students to find new creative uses for a plastic grocery bag within eight days. An MSJ team was soon formed; six students with unique talents came together to complete this challenge. Junior Ishan Goyal and Senior Pranay Singal were in charge of the team, EcoWear Along with the help of Seniors filmer Michael Lindsay, video editor Alok Gupta, designer Shannia Fu and model Cherielynn Tsay, the group of six came up with a creative solution based on last year’s MSJ Trashy Fashion Show. Their solution was a lady’s fashionable hat and shoulder bag. Both the products, they described, were “customizable, available in various colors and sizes.”

Results were announced early in December. Out of over 400 teams with over 1000 students participating from the US and Canada, MSJ was able to win the challenge with their creative solution, explanation and video. “After all the effor we put in, knowing that we won was the best satisfaction,” explains Singal after hearing the results. With their success, the team won a trip the Anaheim to attend DECA’s International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in April, tickets for a day at Disneyland, and will be featured in both Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) and ICDC.

Goyal reflects back saying “it was a great learning experience in that it was time pressured and had to be professional.”