SHEBOYGAN – On Thursday, April 23, fifty-seven high school students competed in Junior Achievement of Wisconsin’s (JA) annual Wisconsin JA Business Challenge Championship in Sheboygan. The students were winners of the 2015 JA regional Business Challenge in Wisconsin.
Students took on the role of c-suite executives to develop management strategies for a virtual company and product using the JA Titan web-based business simulation. The teams’ business strategies included decisions on price, production, marketing, capital investment, research and development.
“We believe the Wisconsin JA Business Challenge is a great way for students to build entrepreneurial skills that will serve them well in their future careers,” says Tim Greinert, president of JA. “Students may have learned some of these economic and business concepts in class but the Business Challenge allows them to bring their business strategies to life as they act in the role of CEO, CFO, marketing director, and research and development lead.”
Ben Salzmann – president and CEO of the Business Challenge event sponsor and host ACUITY – agrees:
“ACUITY is pleased to be the sponsor of the Wisconsin JA Business Challenge Championship. This event provides students statewide with valuable experiences, preparing them to be the business leaders of tomorrow,” says Salzmann.
The top performing teams earned $3,500 in scholarships for post-secondary education as well as other prizes including gift cards for Kohl’s department stores.
The top two teams will also go on to compete for scholarships in the JA Titan National Virtual Competition April 30 – May 13.
Wisconsin JA Business Challenge Championship winners:
Title Champions/First Place earned a $1,000 educational scholarship per participant
Pulaski High School – Jordan Dietrich and Michael Jerovetz
2nd Place earned a $500 educational scholarship per participant
Greenfield High School – Hannan Mirza, Matt Braatz and Collin Kufahl
3rd Place
Pulaski High School – Jacob Jaworski and Matthew Kaczmarek
Consolation Winners
D.C. Everest High School – Jake Gebert, Jordan Steinagel and Kaveon Staton
Jefferson High School – Lauren Blank and Jarad Bartelt
Shawano Community High School – Cole Reuter and Dalton Parson
About Junior Achievement of Wisconsin:
Junior Achievement of Wisconsin is dedicated to preparing young people for the real world, showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, create jobs which make their communities more robust, and apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Over 165,000 students in the state of Wisconsin put these lessons into action every year and learn the value of contributing to their communities. This year JA delivered over 1.3 million contact hours to Wisconsin students during the 2012/2013 school year, a 23% increase over the previous year.
