Mahoning Valley students run virtual companies, compete for Youngstown State scholarship

High school students from Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties recently competed in the 14th annual Junior Achievement Titan Business Challenge at the Youngstown State University Williamson College of Business Administration.

The participating schools included Bloomfield Middle/High School, East Liverpool High School, Lordstown High School, Western Reserve High School, David Anderson Junior/Senior High School, Mineral Ridge High School, and Chalker High School.

How the Junior Achievement Titan Business Challenge competition works at Youngstown State

Students from these schools were paired with mentors for the competition, actual business owners from the area.

The mentors, representing companies like Mercy Health, 717 Credit Union, and Chatham University, could use their real-life experience to educate the students using a virtual business simulator.

Through the simulator challenge, event organizers say the students were “developing business strategies and making decisions quarter by quarter while managing issues such as setting prices, fulfilling production requests, creating marketing, investing in research and development, and financing capital equipment for their virtual cell phone companies.”

According to the release, the students could compete for a $1,000 scholarship to be used if they attend the Williamson College of Business Administration after high school graduation.

One team from Lordstown High School took home the first-place scholarship prize.

Junior Achievement Titan Business Challenge winners

Here is a complete list of the winners receiving scholarships:

First Place – Lordstown team 6: David Myers, Austin Tyree and Mark Holliday (Mentor: Melissa Maki - Middlefield Bank)

Second Place – Mineral Ridge team 2: Cody Simmons, Faith Schneider and Mikayla Russel (Mentor: Michael Narducci – The Narducci Realty Group)

Third Place – Lisbon team 2: Gage Owens, Tate Wallen and Trevor Siefke (Mentor: Andrew Nemergut – ASECU)

Other teams were recognized for their efforts in specific categories:

Profit Category– Southington team 1: Billy Prowitt, Emily Proverbs and Seth Balzer (Mentor: Candace Madden – Mercy Health)

Marketing & Sales Category- Lordstown team 1: Parker Batchelder, Cody Kibler and Caden Minor (Mentor: Caitlin Nemergut – ASECU)

Total Victory Currencies Category- Bloomfield team 1: Ben Sly, Kaleb Bartholomew and Sam Covey (Mentors: Matt Hawout – Middlefield Bank and Matt Brophy- 717 Credit Union)