Business Academy Seniors during the weeks of February 21st and 28th participated in a competition inspired and based off of ABC’s “Shark Tank”. The students presented their comprehensive business plans to a panel of judges. All 21 students spent their time since September developing these business plans on an idea, product, or service they came up with.
Logos, financial projections, market studies, and much more were given careful consideration. In a practicum setting, each student had time to do research and share thoughts with their classmates.
During the fall, Principal Mike Citta, Academy Principal Christopher Peck, and the Greater Toms River Chamber of Commerce reached an agreement to make the business plans not just part of the curriculum, but also part of a real contest.
Members of the Chamber volunteered during those two weeks to listen and view the presentations of the plans put together by the young entrepreneurs. On February 22 and 23, all students were given time slots throughout the school day to come down to face the 4 preliminary round judges. Kids spoke for 3 minutes and then had an extensive amount of time to answer questions and take suggestions.
By that Friday the following were put into the Top 10 as finalists:
Madeline Cummings, Logan Burtt, Sadie Dickman, Emma Grunin, Noah Hilsdorf, Donald Maccarick, Madison Miranda, Quintus Sturzebecher, Jocelyn Roman, and Jake Wilber
Those 10 were featured in a TV-21 taped “Shark Tank” episode on March 1st.
Jeremy Grunin of the Grunin Foundation was the announcer and 8 different Chamber members split the day as the panel.
The Senior Class was invited down at 1:00 to find out who was ranked in the Top 3 and would earn $2,000, $1,500, and $1000 respectively as scholarships. Gaining those spots to great applause from their peers were:
1st: Madeline Cummings (Presentful - Last Minute/Personalized Gift Finder)
2nd: Logan Burtt (Jersey Shore Drive In - Drive In Movie Theater)
3rd (A Tie!): Sadie Dickman (Color Selector - Color Matching App) and Madison Miranda (Guard Geek - Concussion Preventer)
Mr. Peck has been displaying extreme pride and gratitude all year towards the students and told us: “The event was such a unique and transformative experience for the students who chose to take this journey. Thank you to our Chamber of Commerce members, our TV21 production personnel, and our generous scholarship donors. Congratulations to all 21 senior class Business Academy participants for the legacy that they leave behind at the culmination of this year. We look forward to making this an annual event, and we are certain that the best is yet to come!!”
Madeline Cummings did such a good job one of the judges believed her business was real, she said: “I was very happy to win, it was an honor the Sharks loved my idea and presentation to such a degree that they selected me to win the whole thing and granted me a generous scholarship. Being able to have more money put towards my political science and law education gives me more breathing room. I came up with my idea because I am terrible at giving gifts and I really wanted to help people like me. However, it means a lot to me because hopefully this program will continue past when I graduate and future classes of the Business Academy will go on to do their own Shark Tanks. It means a lot to me to set the precedent of what it means to win the Business Academy Shark Tank Competition. I hope that my work will leave an imprint on the Business Academy itself, because the academy has meant a lot to my high school career so far.”
Logan Burtt commented about his second place finish: “It was a really unique experience that was worth all the work from the beginning of the year to now. Taking second and bringing home the $1,500 means more to me than a simple prize. It means that I have accomplished my work in convincing people that Toms River needs a drive in theater and will help me in pursuing my dream of becoming a pilot.”
Sadie was thrilled to receive the prize: “It’s 1,000 dollars for third place and it feels pretty freaking good.”
Madison wanted to say: “When I was told I had made the top ten, I was extremely nervous. I understood that my product was something that could help a lot of athletes who could suffer from concussions, however I did not expect to make it. Once I got to the final round, after presenting to the sharks and the mini audience, I was very excited to hear the results. Winning third place was a very exciting moment, I felt like I accomplished something I didn’t think I could do.”
The scholarships were funded by M&T Bank (1st), H. Hovnanian Foundation (2nd), and Green Label Tile/The Grunin Foundation (3rd). Congratulations to our never disappointing Academy Seniors and you can catch the tape on the Youtube page of TRSTV-21.
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