By Sydnie Sabbarese
On April 14, Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) Virtual Enterprise (VE) MINED’s Business Plan team moved on as semifinalists in the National Business Plan Competition (NBPC), hosted by Virtual Enterprise International.
The preliminary rounds to decide who would advance to the next round were held on April 12 and MINED moved up as semifinalists in the competition held on April 19. Although MINED did not make it to the championship rounds, they gained deserved recognition during their second competition.
FVHS VE classes have obtained many admirable awards and recognition in the past; however, their advancement this far in the NBPC was slightly unexpected.
“In the beginning of the school year, I believed that our Business Plan team would go to national [levels]. However, I had never expected we would make it to the semifinals,” Chief Financial Officer senior Minh Phan said.
While MINED students were wary of the intense competition they would face, they remained confident that they would succeed.
“We were definitely nervous about competing against the other 40 teams, but I knew that we had a solid business plan that had garnered a lot of praise and positive feedback,” Chief Executive Officer senior Natalie Papazian said. “With this, we were able to confidently present it and received great remarks from all 12 judges that were present for our presentation.”
Throughout the competition, members of the Business Plan team have gained more business experience, as well as improving specific aspects about themselves as businesspeople.
“I know I gained reassurance when it comes to my personal skills that if I pursue a career in business I will manage and create a great future for myself,” Director of Operations senior Rosy Mondragon said. “As a company, I hope our kids that are staying back realize the amount of effort and skill we put into this competition is the reason we moved on, so they should do the same!”
In addition to their Business Plan team being recognized, MINED’s Human Resources team placed third in the Human Resources Competition, showing how much work MINED put in as a company during the competitions.
“Our company benefited greatly from working on the Business Plan competition as a whole,” Papazian said. “Both of our Human Resources directors played a pivotal role in the formation of the Business Plan. With the experience they gained, they were able to apply those skills to move forward through the Human Resources competition.”
The MINED team looks forward to the future competitions and hope to go even further than semifinals.
