The Centennial High School Virtual Enterprise class team was all smiles Monday after winning First Place for Business Plan, Elevator Pitch, and Marketing for their virtual company, Go Gather. The team is headed to the national virtual enterprise competition in New York later this spring.
Vaishvi Joshi, Chief Executive Officer of GoGather, describes the team's excitement at the news that they had won.
"When they announced that we got first place, it was such, such a spectacular feeling, because it was so rewarding," said Joshi.
GoGather Director of Marketing Georgia Tabar remembers her reaction.
"I was like, 'There is no way this is real,' and they called us for first place, and I think we all just screamed," said Tabar.
The journey started when students settled into their positions in May and started bouncing business ideas off each other.
"We settled on the problem that teenagers spent so much time on their phones, and to combat that we wanted to make activity boxes that would take away the stress of spending time together, so that teenagers could just hang out and enjoy each other's company," explained Tabar.
The Virtual Enterprise competition featured 40 schools from all over California, and Kern High Schools did particularly well, with Bakersfield High, Ridgeview High, and Stockdale High also landing in the top five teams. Virtual enterprise teacher Jacilyn Elliot says it shows the students' dedication.
"You don't get first place in the state by goofing off. They learn the value of work ethic and hard work and passion," said Elliot.
"Getting here, in our state championship, it took a lot of support from our community and our teacher-advisor, and a lot of hard work from every single member of our team," said Joshi.
Centennial High School wasn't the only school that will be taking their business to New York in April. Bakersfield High, Stockdale High, Ridgeview High, and South High will also be traveling to New York for the national competition.
"I think Kern County does well in these competitions because we have the community support. We have a long-standing program with virtual enterprise. It started in Bakersfield. First in California," said Elliot.
While the team is happy with their recent success, the students are ready to turn their focus on preparations for the national competition.
"The team will continue working, revising their business plan, revising their slideshow presentation, updating financials. They run this company day in and day out in class," said Elliot. "I think they just have the drive and the passion, and they have a good business concept this year."
