While bearing down and creating responses to the hypothetical challenges thrown their way by judges in a statewide business contest, Old Rochester Regional High School students Ryu Huynh-Aoyama and Eddie Gonet felt no pressure.

            They were in Boston with 19 other ORR students to compete, but that was a fact to celebrate because creating the Tri-Town high school’s DECA program was the real test that they had already passed to make the appearance in Boston possible.

            “It was an excellent experience; it felt so great to be there,” said Gonet. “I wasn’t too stressed out about it. I didn’t expect much because it was (the first year for ORR).”

            Gonet, a 15-year-old sophomore, took second place in his individual category at the state competition held among 500 students on February 27-29 at the Prudential Center. Huynh-Aoyama had a better score in district competition in Hyannis than he had in Boston, but the opportunity to take this test was gravy.

            “In the end, I was more proud of our chapter as a whole… it was our maiden voyage, the first year. We did well despite not having the proper (background). That was something I was really proud to see in my chapter,” said Huynh-Aoyama. “To go to states you must be in the top seven in your category. Internationals it’s top five. Logistically, a lot of (competitors) get cut off that way. In all honestly, I don’t have any regrets.” 

            The greater challenge for this partnership was in getting ORR’s DECA chapter off the ground.

            Originally known as the Distributive Education Clubs of America, the international organization DECA is now a major extracurricular at ORR with 50 strong filling advisor Alyssa Whitney’s homeroom on Fridays after school.

            “For me what’s really cool is I teach chemistry so I see them in all of my classes, I always see them in that sort of setting and situations so it’s been really cool to see that same set of kids… moving into something completely different,” said Whitney. “The cool thing about DECA is they have categories they can pick… real interests. entrepreneurship, social media marketing, fashion. It lets me know my students a little bit better.”

            Behind the football team, marching band and drama club, Whitney estimates that the crowd packing her homeroom for DECA meetings ranks “like a close number four. It’s a good thing that I have a giant classroom,” she said.

            Coming to Old Rochester after a year teaching in East Boston, Whitney had familiarity with DECA via her boyfriend, ORR graduate Casey McKenzie, who had participated in DECA while attending UMass Dartmouth.

            There were students that Gonet and Huynh-Aoyama had gotten interested in the club that were in Whitney’s homeroom.

            “Even though we don’t have business classes, ORR has other classes that helped prepare them as well,” said Whitney. “Even though they didn’t take finance or marketing, they were able to do so well at the other skills that they have.”

            Before coronavirus precautions led to the cancellation of extracurricular activities and ultimately school altogether, Whitney met with the DECA group every Friday after school. In her second year as advisor, Whitney was joined by colleague Beth Trout.

            Garnering that advisory support did not come easily to Huynh-Aoyama, a senior who had been trying to get DECA started since he was a freshman. Having grown up in Wareham and expecting to join a well-established DECA chapter, Huynh-Aoyama’s family moved to Mattapoisett when he was in sixth grade.

            “I was a bit disappointed,” he said, knowing even then that ORR did not have the DECA program. “It’s a great school – don’t get me wrong, but it’s still a small school and because of that we don’t have the business set that most schools offer.”

            Huynh-Aoyama spent his freshman year trying to find support.

            “I was a bit discouraged at first so I was slowly reaching out to my friends in other schools… how they started DECA,” he said. “I learned that originally I was doing it alone, solo. I needed a team. 

            “Teamwork leads to teamwork. It was my junior year that I came across Eddie… the ball started to roll.”

            Now they are DECA co-founders and co-presidents.

            A Fairhaven resident, Gonet was looking for a high school with a business program and his choice came down to Bishop Stang and ORR. Despite not having a business program, ORR won out.

            “When I got there Ryu approached me. Ryu said, ‘Eddie, I’ve been trying to start a DECA here, but I haven’t been very successful,'” Gonet recalled.

            Teamwork was their answer,

            Initially, near the end of the 2018-19 school year, before ORR’s DECA chapter had become official, Huynh-Aoyama had a meeting with ORR Principal Mike Devoll and Superintendent of Schools Doug White.

            They needed members, and they needed an advisor. Once the latter was in place, the growth of the former has been steady.

            “In all honesty, there isn’t an exact moment, but I feel like over time (we) slowly built up more members,” said Huynh-Aoyama.”Junior year we had a lot of people interested. ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing, would you like to do it?'”

            The answer was often yes.

            Huynh-Aoyama and Gonet made it a mission to educate their classmates and, by word of mouth, slowly spread the message throughout the hallways.

            DECA sells itself at this point.

            “We’re always looking for new members, but ever since the start, our focus has always been on teaching the members we have,” said Huynh-Aoyama. “We ourselves, it’s our current members who do the marketing of DECA for us. It’s a business lesson to itself. I feel like in so much business if you focus on what we’re doing.”

            What they are doing is real-world type things, addressing problems and challenges, finding solutions, collaborating and learning how the real world works.

            Those tasks may be the kind that make tycoons or the kind that help manage everyday life handling personal finances.

            “The students in the program – no one knows what is a credit score, how to do taxes or anything like that. We don’t have a personal finances course. That’s why we wanted to start DECA for students to have,” said Gonet.

            Competition is often part of the real business world so the contests, while a fun activity for the fledgling group, is an important facet. For Gonet, the state competition was a dress rehearsal for things he expects to do after education. 

            “You wait in a line – they give you a certain time to be there – then you go into a room, they give you an event situation,” he explained. 

            The subject was business administration and management, and the question was about the importance of professional development and why a business should implement it. Gonet had 10 minutes to prepare a response.

            “In the competition, when you’re talking to the judge, it’s like a job interview or a typical day on the job,” said Gonet, emphasizing the importance of things like an introductory handshake. “One time the judge had a cast on (his hand) and I didn’t know what to do so I shook his cast. He really liked that.”

            There was a mini awards session on Friday, February 28, and a larger presentation on Saturday, February 29.

            Two-thirds of a school’s score was determined by performance in two role-play situations, and a 100-question business exam taken at ORR determined the other third. 

            Gonet, Mary Butler and Teddy Carroll were among ORR students whose state-competition performances qualified them for international competition that was to be hosted this year by Nashville, Tennessee, before the coronavirus outbreak canceled the continuing competition.

            School closure due to the coronavirus will also postpone “Cause Day,” which was scheduled for Friday, April 3. The scenic event held in 19 different tents on the high school track gives students 18 different charities to raise money in the community for donations. 

            “The nice thing about this is it’s all about choice,” said Gonet, alluding to local, regional and worldwide charities. DECA planned to participate in the event, in which all involved students wear the color symbolizing their chosen charity.

            Gonet says DECA had told the ORR chapter it is on a five-year pilot program. “We’ll give you five years to get one class at ORR. I’m not quite confident, but I think they’ll extend the deadline,” he said.

            Had international competition been held, Huynh-Aoyama would not have taken up his invitation, having given it over to a younger student that could benefit more greatly from the training at the event.

            His dream job is to, “start my own business and build something of my own. I want to create something that can help other people as well. I feel like DECA is my prototype.”

            Huynh-Aoyama’s dream for ORR is a business curriculum. “From this year onward, I strongly feel that the current DECA members in our chapters will be able to initiate and start those business classes,” he said.

            Told he has created a monster, Huynh-Aoyama answered, “hopefully one that outlasts me.”

By Mick Colageo

            Many people are asking what the newly reconstituted Marion Historical Commission is all about. How are we different from the Sippican Historical Society? Why does Marion need two separate historical organizations?

            In reality, the two organizations are very different.

            The Sippican Historical Society is a privately funded 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with dues-paying membership. According to the SHS website, it was “founded in 1963 for the purpose of fostering interest in the history of Marion, encouraging historical research and writing, and establishing a museum to preserve and display artifacts, documents, and artwork pertaining to the town.” The museum and society are housed in the historic Walton Nye Ellis house at the corner of Main and Front streets in Marion.

            The Society has been an active voice for the preservation of historic buildings as one facet of its many roles in exploring Marion’s history through its collections of historic artifacts and documents. As a preservation activist, the Society has led the way in such projects as the preservation of the village post office and Walton Nye Ellis House, the former Brown’s Pharmacy, Captain Hadley House and the Marion General Store.

            Local historical commissions, on the other hand, are an important part of municipal government in Massachusetts. Almost all cities and towns in the state have established a local historical commission. Historical Commission members are appointed by the Board of Selectmen and bring an array of talents and knowledge of history, architecture, and preservation planning to the Commission. Our new Commission is comprised of Chairperson Will Tifft, Sidney Bowen, Bryan McSweeny, Meg Steinberg and Jane Tucker.

            Historic commissions are responsible for community-wide historic preservation planning and are guided and supported by the Massachusetts Historical Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office in Boston.

            Compiling a historic property inventory is an essential first step for a historical commission. This is done on MHC inventory forms. Inventory forms address the first task of preservation planning – identification. The inventory of Marion’s resources was begun in 1998 when a preservation consultant was hired to do a town-wide overview. Close to 200 forms were completed, many of which covered large groupings of buildings with minimal property-specific information.

            Now, the Marion Historical Commission’s first objective is to update and complete the town-wide survey to current state specifications, which now include digital recording and availability on the statewide MACRIS website. Funding requests to the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the Marion Community Preservation Commission have recently been made. Community approval of the CPC funds at May 2020 Town Meeting will ensure the survey can get started soon.

            After a comprehensive survey is compiled, local commissions prioritize properties for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register is a formal federal recognition of the significance of the property but places absolutely no restrictions or conditions on private property owners unless there is state or federal involvement in a project.

            The National Register is a federal listing of buildings, structures, sites, objects and districts significant in our nation’s history, culture, architecture or archeology and that are worthy of preservation. Only two Marion properties are presently listed on the National Register: the H.R. Reed House at 46 Water Street and the Bird Island Lighthouse. Many, many more Marion properties are eligible for individual listing or for listing as part of an historic district. This designation is known to increase property values and community pride.

            Other responsibilities of a Local Historical Commission may include requests from federal or state agencies to evaluate state or federally-assisted projects in the town that may impact historic or archeological resources. Having a complete historic inventory on hand enables the Commission to evaluate potential harmful impacts and argue for more historically sensitive treatments.

            Historical commissions play a leadership role in public education that the community’s historic resources are important to preserve. Walking tours, plaques, newspaper articles, and public lectures are some of the ways this can happen. In fact, a little-known walking tour of the Wharf Village (Marion Village area) was prepared in 1998 by the Sippican Historical Society. It will soon be reprinted and made more available to the public.

            Historical commissions advise elected officials and other boards on historic preservation issues. Issues could include zoning changes, the re-use of municipally-owned historic buildings, master planning or preservation of historic landscapes.

            Ordinarily, historical commissions do not have a regulatory function. However, many towns have opted for bylaw protections, through local bylaws adopted at Town Meeting, to better protect local resources. Examples might be local historic districts (with design review of certain exterior changes), demolition-delay bylaws, scenic-road bylaws or village-center zoning. These options may eventually be considered in Marion but certainly not without long and thorough public education and understanding of their merits in advance.

            For now, the Marion Historical Commission is excited to take on its official role of community preservation leadership for the town. There is a new presence on the Town of Marion website, (www.marionma.gov/historical-commission), including our Mission Statement and links to important local historic maps and the MACRIS inventory database.

            The webpage will contain updates on local preservation concerns such as the preservation of the Marion Town House and protection of the H.H. Richardson-designed Percy Browne House at 192 Front Street.

Marion Historical Commission

By Meg Steinberg