Five high school seniors each received a $1,000 scholarship to attend Kent State University’s College of Business Administration for fall semester 2015 after winning the college’s Young Business Scholars Business Plan Competition.
Jennifer Guerriero of Archbishop Hoban High School, Zachary Hughes of Solon High School, Noah McDonald of Marysville High School, Jessica Tang of Padua Franciscan High School and Jillian Tischer of Mason High School, comprised the winning team along with coach Chad Fruitg, Master of Business Administration student, for the business plan they created as part of the program.
The Young Business Scholars Summer Program is a business-focused program for high school seniors interested in pursuing a business degree.
“The Young Business Scholar program provides high school seniors the opportunity to study different areas of business, while experiencing college life and living on campus for the week,” said Nicole Kotlan, director of the Undergraduate Programs Office.
Throughout the week, students explored accounting, finance, marketing, economics, computer information systems and business management while working in teams to develop a “mock business plan”. Using business strategies and techniques they learned throughout the week, teams presented their final business plan to a panel of business professionals who served as judges.
Michael Gaffney, president at Junior Achievement of North Central Ohio, served as one of the judges and said he was impressed with the presentations.
“All of the students were well versed and gave polished presentations,” Gaffney said. “Every one of these students is going to be a success, no matter what they do. It was neat to see them at the start of what I believe will be a long and fruitful career.”