ECCA Students Make a Great Showing at 25th Annual High School Business Day
More than 300 high school students from 12 schools across the region participated in business and IT related competitions at the 25th annual High School Business Day on May 7 at SUNY Adirondack.
Ken Kurtz, president of Bai Brands, presented the keynote address and served as a judge for a “Pitch It” competition themed around creating and marketing a new beverage. Kurtz is a beverage industry executive who has been the driving force in building some of the most iconic premium beverage brands in the last 30 years. He also has worked with E&J Gallo Winery, Boston Beer Company (Sam Adams) and Fiji Water.
Amanda Bondoc of EC-Council presented a Cyber Ethical Hacking Challenge. International Council of E-Commerce Consultants, also known as EC-Council, is the world’s largest cyber security technical certification body. It operates in 145 countries globally and has trained and certified more than 200,000 information security professionals globally.
Students in the Early College Career Academy (ECCA) made a great showing in all the competitions.
Thompson Collins and Sam Hogan of Glens Falls City Schools and Rob Manasier of Saratoga Springs City School District, all students in the ECCA Business Entrepreneurship program, won Pitch It! They pitched their idea for a new beverage that could be marketed to teens to a panel of four judges. Their product, serene tea, is an all-natural, caffeine free, flavored tea, with properties such as lemon balm that will help reduce anxiety and stress. In their pitch, they noted that 30% of teens suffer from anxiety and 87% are not medicated. Serene teawill be an organic beverage alternative.
Instructor Susan Stone said, “although only three students could pitch the idea to judges, the preparation process was a whole class effort.” Students collaborated on the research, marketing and details of the pitch. The class will use the experience from SUNY Adirondack’s High School Business day to prepare for their entry at the New York State High School Business Model Competition at Siena College on May 24
“We also want to give credit to Julia Howard of Hartford Central School District,” said Stone. Julia created the brand logo and all of the marketing materials that made the pitch so successful. Julia is in the New Media program which focuses on graphic design, visual marketing and communication. “Julia went above and beyond to help the group,” added Stone.
Other ECCA Business and Entrepreneurship students, as well as students in the IT Networking program also won top stops. For the first time since the event’s inception, the top student in each competition received a $250 scholarship to SUNY Adirondack. Congratulations!
WSWHE BOCES ECCA Student Results:
Pitch It Contest
First Place: Thompson Collins and Sam Hogan (Glens Falls City Schools) and Rob Manasier (Saratoga Springs City School District)
Marketing
Second Place: Kayla Phinney (Queensbury UFSD)
Third Place: Trevor Jeffords (Queensbury UFSD)
Sports Marketing
Second Place: Sam Hogan, (Glens Falls City Schools)
Entrepreneurship
Third Place: Sam Hogan (Glens Falls City Schools)
PC Quiz Bowl
First Place: Myles LaPlante (Glens Falls City Schools) and Daniel Osborne (Hudson Falls CSD)
Second Place: Alex Hockenberry (Hudson Falls CSD) and Elijah Terrell (Warrensburg CSD)
Third Place: Megan Washburn (Queensbury UFSD) and Hannah West (Warrensburg CSD)
Ethical Hacking
Nicholas Hoffis (Lake George CSD) and Joshua Hamlin (Queensbury UFSD)
Cisco Networking Quiz Bowl
First Place: Alex Hockenberry (Hudson Falls CSD) and Elijah Terrell (Warrensburg CSD)
Second Place: Chris McWain, Zach McWhorter and Alicia Tobias (all Queensbury UFSD)
Third Place: Megan Washburn (Queensbury UFSD) and Hannah West (Warrensburg CSD)