Ashtabula County students compete in JA Titan Business Challenge

Shelley Terry, Star Beacon, Ashtabula, Ohio
·2 min read

Mar. 29—ASHTABULA — Students from the Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus (A-Tech) garnered top prizes March 17 at the annual Junior Achievement of Eastern Ohio Titan Business Challenge held at Kent State University at Ashtabula.

Fourteen teams of students from Ashtabula County learned the ins and outs of running a business while competing for scholarship prizes, through the JA Titan online business simulation.

This year's participating high schools included Ashtabula County Technical and Career Campus, Jefferson Area High School, Conneaut High School, and Pymatuning Valley High School.

The top three scholarship winners were:

—1st place: A-Tech team 3 ($500 each and qualifies for JA USA national Titan virtual competition);

—2nd place: A-Tech team 2 ($250 each), and

—3rd place: A-Tech team 5 ($125 each).

"We had a fantastic Titan event today. We had 14 teams from 4 schools, and 16 volunteers, many of which were not only new to the Titan event, but new to JA entirely," said Anthony Pascarella, Ashtabula program manager for Junior Achievement of Eastern Ohio. "A huge thank you to the staff, they worked really hard on this. Also, a big thanks to KSU Ashtabula and all of our volunteers. Many said they are excited to return next year."

Students began the day with breakfast donated by Panera Bread, and an icebreaker challenge that encouraged them to work together and get to know each other better.

Teams were then paired with local business professionals for the first two rounds of the competition. The professionals offered their experience and wisdom as mentors to the students.

Students were responsible for developing business strategies and making decisions quarter by quarter while managing issues such as setting prices, fulfilling production requests, creating marketing, investing in research and development, and financing capital equipment for their virtual cell phone companies.

The teams participated in three rounds of Titan gameplay — the last round determining the 2023 Titan Business Challenge champion. The top three-placing teams were awarded scholarships, and three additional teams were awarded consolation prizes: A-Tech team 4 (highest profit); Conneaut team 3 (highest marketing and sales), and Conneaut team 1 (highest corporate social responsibility).

Sponsors for the event included KSU at Ashtabula, The Taco Bell Foundation, FactSet, The UPS Store, and Panera Bread.

Event mentors were: Jim Long (The Middlefield Banking Company), Chris Brecht (Chris Brecht State Farm Insurance), Eric Senor (Andover Bank), Marlin Moschell (The Middlefield Banking Company), Brian Cain (The Middlefield Banking Company), Christine Sutton (The Middlefield Banking Company), Chuck Ninos (Community Member), Jean Carter (The Middlefield Banking Company), Larry Maniche (The Middlefield Banking Company), Rachel Burch (Conneaut Savings Bank), Ralph Sass (Community Member), Kelly Wajda (The Middlefield Banking Company), Emily Dobran (ACCESS Ashtabula County), Mark Lytle (Community Member), Jillian Fox (KSU), Harleigh Hodge (A-Tech), and Mindy Nott (440 Homes).