Seniors Meredith Benzar (left) and Isabella Meza celebrate their victory as the nation's top Virtual Enterprise finance team at this year's Youth Business Summit in New York City. The EPHS VE firm, Alectrona, produces solar-powered portable chargers out of plastic waste. (Photo courtesy of Melissa Martinez)
Congratulations to the EPHS Virtual Enterprises International (VEI) finance team of seniors Meredith Benzar and Isabella Meza, who won first place in the nation at this week's Youth Business Summit in New York City.
Meredith and Isabella competed against the Top 30 VEI high school finance teams in the United States. The National Finance Competition took place at Long Island University Brooklyn.
After their five-minute presentation, Meredith and Isabella faced a rapid-fire succession of nine finance questions from judges in the span of 15 minutes, and they tackled each question with confidence.
In addition, seniors Diego Morales and Patryk Baran competed in the VEI Quickbooks National Competition against the nation's Top 30 high school accounting firms. Diego and Patryk likewise turned in an impressive performance, finishing seventh in the country.
Both teams represented Elmwood Park High School's own VEI company, Alectrona, which (virtually) produces solar-powered portable chargers from recyclable materials.
"We are super proud of their accomplishments!" said Ms. Melissa Martinez, EPHS business education teacher and VEI facilitator. "The teams did a great job representing Elmwood Park High School."
Ms. Martinez added: "I also wanted to say a huge thank you to our wonderful judges: Mr. Peter Volpe, Mrs. Karen Bear and Mr. Jim Jennings, who provided their finance expertise and who helped coach our teams toward final competitions! We are so grateful for your time and dedication to our students!"
Congrats again to the amazing students who make up the EPHS VEI program and to their teacher, Ms. Martinez!
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