A Week With EVO

A prototype of an EVO cell phone.

Cambridge Springs High School recently played host to its 5th annual Business Week.   Sponsored by ACES (Americans for the Competitive Enterprise System), Business Week is a week-long competition that pits the sophomores against one another in a business-like atmosphere with a $100 cash prize on the line.

Led by CEO E. Dennis, CFO A. Walker, Faculty Advisor Mr. Grubbs, and Financial Advisor Mr. Waldemarson, EVO was one of three companies producing cell phones.  They were a strong contender in the early quarters of RONA (Return On Net Assets), the financial part of the competition.  On the first day, there was a scrimmage with the teams factoring numbers for what they would spend on production, advertising, and research and development on the “product”.  By the end of the scrimmage, EVO dominated the other two cell phone companies.

“We didn’t know what to expect, but we did better than the other companies,” said Grubbs.

After getting their feet wet on the first day, EVO went headstrong into the “real” RONA competition.  Despite their best efforts, they finished in 2nd place among the cell phone companies.

K. Culbertson and EVO Financial Advisor Mr. Waldemarson going over the recent RONA report.

Also during the second day, EVO, along with the five other companies, attended a business ethics meeting in the auditorium.  There, the teams learned the ins-and-outs of proper business motives.  They also played out “what would you do” scenarios, some more thought-provoking than others.  One such question was: “Would you hire a woman who is five months pregnant knowing you will have to replace her in a few months?”  Questions like these made the sophomores quiet in thought as they listened intently.

Wednesday opened a new can of worms for the sophomores as they played “Survivor”.  No, not the television show but a game that gives the winning team extra supplies such as markers, scissors, and tape.  After an intense competition, EVO came out as the winner.

Also on Wednesday, a special meeting was held for the CEO’s and CFO’s of all six companies.  There, the CFO’s broke down finances with Val Laufenberg, the Executive Director of ACES.  Val also talked about the dos-and-don’ts of a good finance presentation, saying that the teams should state more than what is on the sheet that is used in the presentation.  She also said to elaborate on finances and use sophisticated words during the presentation as opposed to the normal teenage vocabulary that is typically used among high school students.  Perhaps the most important part of the CEO-CFO meeting was when Val gave a rundown- a preview of sorts- of the stockholders presentation.  This allowed the teams to get a feel of what they would be up against +during the official presentation.

On Thursday, Lon Wilson from the Meadville Tribune talked to the teams about presentation skills.  He discussed the dos-and-don’ts of a presentation and stressed confidence to the students, noting that particular sales tactic is essential.

“Be confident,” Wilson said.  “Anybody can buy, not everybody can sell.  Know how to sell.”

As is the case with most of the speakers that the sophomores heard this week, Wilson believes that Business Week is important.

“Business Week is one of the best projects kids can be involved in,” he added.

Friday brought a judgment day of sorts for the companies in that all of their hard work would be put to the test through presentations.  The most paramount of presentations: the trade show.  At the trade show, the companies show off their product to the school and compete for “business.”  EVO consistently had customers at their booth with salesmen and saleswomen ready to promote their cell phones.

At the end of the day on Friday was the awards ceremony.  Anxiety was in the air as teams hoped their company would be called as the $100 Top Company winner.  But, despite their best efforts, EVO was not named Top Company as that title went to MiWorld.

Top Company or not, the employees of EVO learned what the business world can be like during Business Week.  The pieces of information that they learned during this competition may be worth more in the future than the $100 grand prize is now.