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ROBBINSVILLE: Student entrepreneurs head to national tournament

By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
   ROBBINSVILLE — Six Robbinsville High School students, who recently swept the regional Virtual Enterprises National Business Plan Competition, now are getting fired up to pitch their virtual snack company at the national championships.
   The RHS team of Nicole DeMentri, Ryan Febles, Lauren Fischer, David Pastuna, Victoria Sankey and Brandon Snyder outdid five other teams from New Jersey and Pennsylvania on Jan. 15 by dazzling judges with a top-notch business plan and sales pitch for their virtual company, Build Your Own Craving.
   The first-place finish at Mercer County Community College advances the team to the National Business Plan Competition championships in New York City where they’ll face 15 other virtual enterprise student teams from all over the United States on April 10.
   ”I’m so impressed by how much time these students put into this,” Tawrye Mason, the students’ Virtual Enterprise teacher, said Monday.
   ”They worked together on their presentation every day after school and on weekends and even went shopping together as a group to find coordinated outfits for the competition,” she said. “Their dedication to this was amazing.”
   Virtual Enterprise classes give students the opportunity to start and run a simulated business to prepare them to work one day in a real business environment. The students also gain experience in sales, marketing, paying wages and taxes, maintaining 401(k) plans, creating annual reports and learning accounting practices through running their simulated businesses.
   ”They actually develop and write a 20-page business plan from scratch,” Ms. Mason said. “It’s virtual, but they do everything that a normal business would do except manufacture the actual product. It’s a hands-on real world business experience without leaving the classroom.”
   Ms. Mason helped to bring Virtual Enterprise to RHS in 2009 and credits Principal Molly Avery’s staunch support for the program for its success. Few other high schools in Central New Jersey have this program, except for Hightstown, Lawrence and Ewing, Ms. Mason said.
   The RHS virtual company, Build Your Own Craving, sells candy and snack baskets customized to include whatever the customer wants, said team member Nicole DeMentri, a junior.
   ”Our philosophy is for our customer to pick what they are craving, and we put it all together and send it to them,” Nicole said. “So, for example, if you are craving jelly beans, nuts and Sour Patch Kids, we’ll send it to you!”
   The business also sells “customizable candy bars” containing whatever candy or snack combination the customer wants added to a plain chocolate bar, she said.
   Build Your Own Craving is also a corporation with a conscience. For every five snack baskets it sells, the company donates a special nonconfectionery “Help Basket” to impoverished children in Brazil. Help Baskets, which are delivered through the charity, Hope Unlimited for Children, contain items such as flashlights, blankets, water bottles and Nutri-Grain cereal bars, she said.
   At the preliminary regional competition last week, the Build Your Own Craving team was judged according to a rubric. The written presentation materials were 40 percent of their score, and their public speaking skills — how well they were able to “pitch” their product to the judges — were 60 percent of their final score.
   Ms. Mason said QVC television host Pat James-DeMentri, who is Nicole’s mother, was an incredible mentor to the team and helped them polish their speaking skills and present themselves as young professionals.
   ”Pat came in and worked with them after school and critiqued their presentation skills and really worked hard with them,” Ms. Mason said.
   RHS teacher Debra Nutt, who teaches accounting, personal finance and introduction to business, also served as the financial adviser to all Virtual Enterprise students competing in the National Business Plan Competition.
   Ms. Mason actually had two different Virtual Enterprise teams competing at the Mercer County Community College event. The second RHS team, Cache Cupcakes, finished third. Team members included Anthony Massi, Sydney Josephson, Sarah Schneid, Alex Angeli, Christa Principato and Sunya Akhtar.
   The Build Your Own Craving team will be headed to the Virtual Enterprises International’s 2013 Youth Business Summit in New York. The summit’s three major events are the Global Business Challenge, the National Business Plan Competition and the International Trade Show.
   Build Your Own Craving will compete in the National Business Plan Competition on April 10 as well as in the International Trade Show on April 11 when they can vie for awards in categories such as best corporate catalog, best website, best trade show booth and best sales pitch.
   Winners potentially can receive college scholarships, business internships and prizes such as iPads, Ms. Mason said.
   ”Without a doubt, what’s really the most valuable thing, though, is the networking experience and connections they gain from attending,” Ms. Mason said. “You can’t put a price on that.”