WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange High School virtual enterprise class took third place in the New Jersey Regional Trade Show and Business Competition, held Jan. 15 at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Students were given the challenge to create a business idea and submit it to a panel of judges comprising university professors and experts in business and entrepreneurship. Students with the most innovative ideas and business proposals were awarded scholarships, certificates and cash prizes, and recognized at an awards ceremony, where they got to connect and network with other creative and innovative high school students from across New Jersey.
With the guidance of adviser Maria Frangos, the WOHS team devised a business plan for “Elia Life.” According to the team, “EliaLife, Inc. is a West Orange, New Jersey, start-up dedicated to improving customer health while assisting in the preservation of traditional olive oil farming. We do so as facilitators of sale, connecting small southern European COOPs in Italy, Greece and Spain with eco-friendly and health conscious buyers throughout the United States and Europe.”
The competition grew from six teams in 2018 to 19 teams on Jan. 15, not including the four teams that presented remotely prior to the competition due to administrative reasons. The addition of a Championship Round was exciting, and a great experience for the participating teams.
The teams that earned a berth Jan. 15 in the Championship Round were:
Morris County School of Technology for MerchMe; Morris Knolls High School for Deja Brew; West Orange High School for Elia Life; Livingston High School for Bubbles Up; Academy for MS&E for VersaTie; Lakeland Regional High School for Appy Hour; and Parsippany Hills High School for Snak Pax.
The final results of the Championship Round put Deja Brew in first place at the National Championship qualifier, MerchMe in second place and Elia Life in third.
“This is a big deal and a great new program that was rolled at WOHS this year with the financial support of the West Orange Education Foundation Alumni Fund and the volunteer efforts of the WO Chamber of Commerce,” said Jim Quinn, treasurer of the West Orange Scholarship Fund.
“This was our first year out and we came in third in the state out of 23 schools for our company, Elia Life,” Supervisor of Career and Library Science Nancy Mullin said.
Photos Courtesy of WOSD
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