Huntington High School’s Virtual Enterprise program sent two teams of corporate executives to a conference at LIU Post last Friday that focused on the characteristics of effective leaders and how they can support the work of their management teams as they strive to produce key deliverables.
The teenagers heard from college professors, business leaders and entrepreneurs on what it takes to get ahead. There were opportunities to collaborate and network with VE alumni and VE student leaders from firms across Long Island.
Huntington High School’s Virtual Enterprise class is a full-year, one credit business course that is available to 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 high school’s course bulletin.
The executive teams of Huntington’s Paladin and Artemis companies traveled to Old Brookville for the nearly five hour session at the Tilles Center.
The executive team from Huntington’s Paladin company included CEO Caroline O’Rourke, Ryan Porzio (chief operating officer), Adrianna LoScalzo (chief financial officer), Keira Francis (chief marketing officer), Jazlyn Chapas-Oliva (chief technical officer), Neha Rathore (chief human resources officer) and Andrew Schirripa (vice president of sales).
Artemis’ executive team included CEO Sophie Bradford, Angie Hernandez-Ramos (chief operating officer), Charlie Girimonti (chief financial officer), McKenna Buffa (chief technical officer), Markella Markotsis (chief marketing officer) and Vincent Grassi (chief administrative officer).
“This leadership conference was a wonderful experience and I am very grateful to have been able to attend and network with the other companies and guests,” Ms. Bradford said. “We are excited to be able to expand our company and we can’t wait for the coming competitions.”
The young Huntington executives dressed appropriately for their parts, wearing business attire and looking like they would fit in perfectly in the corporate offices of a Manhattan Fortune 500 company.
“I was so thankful to meet LIU’s Chris Bates and Chuck Garcia in person,” Ms. O’Rourke said. “They are wonderful role models and have so much advice and tools to teach students like us at Huntington. This was an amazing opportunity to interact with other companies and make connections with schools all across Long Island, which is great preparation for future trade shows. Virtual Enterprise is the most interactive class I have ever participated in and I highly suggest all students should try it out as well”
