Poppy is Huntington High School’s highly regarded Virtual Enterprise firm. The company will vie in the national championships in Manhattan in April. It recently held a networking event in the school cafeteria that raised over $2,400 to further its efforts.
Poppy is a bagel chip company that takes stale bagels and reverse engineers them into bagel chips. The company’s motto is: “Giving Bagels a Second Chance.”
Every facet of Poppy’s company team helped make the networking evening a success. Guests began arriving at 7 p.m. and the firm’s accounting staff began selling admission tickets and raffles. Marketing, human resources and administration were all diligent in the efforts to drive attendance higher.
Madison Lange and Mia Breitbarth deftly carried out their master of ceremonies duties, introducing the guest speakers and the presentation team and helping to make the entire evening run smoothly.
As the crowd filed in, a pair of guest speakers took turns behind the microphone. LIU Post
Vice President for Academic Affairs Ed Weis spoke about business techniques that can be used in the “real world.”
Well-known veterinarian specialist Dr. George Kramer, founder and director of Atlantic Coast Veterinary Hospital shared his story and provided a taste of what his occupation entails.
Tasty food donated by Mr. Sausage and Carl’s Main Street Deli satisfied the guests and prepped them for an exceptional performance by Poppy’s presentation team, which consisted of John Panos (chief executive officer, Yaidelis Acevedo (chief operating officer), Graham Young (chief operating officer), Riva Bergman (vice president-design/IT) and Madelyn Reed (vice president-human resources), who all made their pitch in flawless fashion.
“The crowd enjoyed it and were amazed with what we have been able to accomplish,” Ms. Lange said. “Our presentation team is now headed to the nationals where we will be competing with 32 schools from around the world.”
Once the presentations were complete, Ms. Lange, Ms. Breitbarth and Ms. Reed went about announcing the winners of 17 raffles, plus the grand prize of an overnight stay at OHEKA Castle. There was even a 50/50 raffle.
“Overall, the night went smoothly,” Ms. Lange said. “It could not have been accomplished without the help of each student in the class and especially our teacher, Paige Furman.”
The full-year, one credit business class is available to Huntington High School juniors and seniors. “Virtual Enterprise is a simulated business that is set-up and run by students to prepare them for working in a real business environment,” according to the course bulletin.
