H-ton Business Class Dives into
Shark Tank
Decked out in professional attire, five Huntington High School Business Management and Human Resources course students dived into the “shark tank” for a competition that played out before four judges, their classmates and teacher Paige Tyree.
The shark tank initiative was the final assignment for students in the one semester, half-credit course. “It was quite a success,” Ms. Tyree said. The teenagers worked for weeks on their “invention” project, which involved developing a product they would want to bring to market and which could attract the investors necessary for financing it along the way.
“They created an entire business plan for their mock businesses, including a marketing strategy, management plan, cost analysis, SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis and executive summary,” said Ms. Tyree about the project.
As the course wound down, students unveiled their business plans through PowerPoint presentations and a mock-up of their product. Classmates assessed one another’s work, which produced a final set of our projects for Huntington’s first ever shark tank competition.
“It was an exciting day,” Ms. Tyree said. “It was a chance for some of our budding entrepreneurs to experience what it would be like to pitch a product in hopes of turning their dream into a reality someday.”
The shark on the judging panel includes Huntington business teacher Suzi Biagi, retired district business teacher Ed Parry, high school Assistant Principal Brenden Cusack and longtime Long Island business owner Bill Tyree, who has more than 40 years of entrepreneurial experience.
The finalists include the freshman team of Gerard Federici and William Hebert, sophomores William Bonilla and Stefan Breskin and junior Lena Scarpulla. The students worked incredibly hard and took the day seriously,” Ms. Tyree said. “They dressed, spoke and presented very professionally. The sharks were all super impressed.”
The sharks listened to the product pitches and then had a chance to ask questions. “They graded the students based on product creativity and usefulness, along with their presentation skills,” Ms. Tyree said.
Ms. Scarpulla was named the first runner-up for her ala carte television service “Prime Connections and Communication,” which would provide users with the ability to pay for only what they want to watch rather than being forced to purchase a cable bundle package.
Mr. Bonilla won the competition for his U-Topos mobile app that he described as “a secretary inside of your phone.” The teenager was clearly energized by his victory.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity to display my hard work to all of the distinguished judges,” Mr. Bonilla said. “I recommend all students take this class because I learned a lot of valuable things, not only about business, but life.”
Ms. Scarpulla found the business class initiative to be well worth her time. “The Huntington High School shark tank competition allows students like me to become more confident, have better public speaking skills and be able to successfully present a product or idea,” she said. “The competition was a major accomplishment for the students as well as the business program here at Huntington.”