Irvine High School’s Virtual Enterprise team placed among the top 18 teams in the country during the Virtual Enterprise National Business Plan competition recently held in New York City. Virtual enterprise courses encourage budding entrepreneurs to create and run their own mock companies. Working under the guidance of a business partner, students write professional business plans, manage personnel needs, apply for financing and prepare oral and written sales pitches that are presented at state and regional competitions, where teams qualify for the annual national competition.
The Irvine High team is enrolled in the Entrepreneurship course, as part of IUSD’s Career Technical Education (CTE) program. Their company, named Kitastrophe, is an emergency preparedness kit company that aims to help ensure businesses, schools and families are “always prepared” for any natural disaster.
The Kitastrophe’s executive team consists of managers who represent various aspects of the company’s business operations. This includes:
· Elizabeth Jiang, Chief Financial Officer
· Riddhi Kumar, Chief Executive Officer
· Anders Lodin, Chief Operating Officer
· Bala Janahan, Director of Marketing
· Diego Valencia Rios, Director of Sales
· Elias Sawary, Director of Human Resources
· Shrey Gupta, Director of IT/Design
Teacher and Coach Gary Russel said, “This trip was an amazing experience for our students, who had the opportunity to learn from and compare their work with the top teams in the country. The atmosphere at the host site, Long Island University, was full of excitement with each team from around the nation doing final prep. Though the teams were competing head-to-head, there was comradery, networking, and support.”
To learn more about the District’s Entrepreneurship CTE pathway and schools that offer Virtual Enterprise programs in IUSD, click here.