Years, months, weeks, days and many cans of Dr. Pepper later, they were ready. All the time spent researching, learning and improving was about to be put to the test as a group of six Thousand Oaks seniors got ready for the one thing they’d been waiting for all year.
The Virtual Enterprise State Business Competition is an entrepreneurship competition that encourages students from around the country to showcase their understanding, collaborative skills and inventiveness in the business industry through written business plans and oral presentations. The goal: To influence people to invest in their business.
This seems like any other meaningless and exhausting school activity. But for Alyssa Kiszczak, Samantha Horiuchi, Jonathan Oestergren, Massimiliano Senel, Presley Diep and Peter Escovedo, this was everything they’d been preparing for since joining the ETHOS Entrepreneurship Academy two years ago.
ETHOS a three-year program available to sophomore’s focuses on developing business, entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing and creative skills. The program specifically works to provide skills to students looking for a career in business, helping them gain insight into this path and preparing them for what’s next after high school.
“Through ETHOS, I’ve learned how to build my resume, giving me leadership opportunities as the CEO of the program to help run the leadership academy,” Horiuchi said. “It’s helped me be more business-minded, and, [I’m] pursuing business as a possible career, giving me the insights on budgets and tax forms.”
Round one of the Virtual Enterprise State Business Competition occurred on Dec. 11, 2024, at Rio Hondo College, where students competed for a spot in the top 42. Those teams would progress to compete for the top 20, top 10 and, finally, top nine in California from Jan. 21-23 at the Bakersfield Convention Center. The top nine companies would get a chance to advance to the Youth Business Summit (YBS) on April 7-8 in New York City.
In Bakersfield, this group of Lancers would make TOHS ETHOS history by earning the eighth place spot and becoming the first ETHOS Business Plan team to make it to YBS in New York City.
The team, representing the company Sports Reach stood in front of a panel of judges whose only job was to either make or break them. Remembering the sleepless nights and countless hours they spent running on Dr. Pepper, presenting in front of their class, participating in mock competitions, studying questions and learning skills, these Lancers knew they had to give this competition everything.
Sports Reach began with Kiszczak during her sophomore year, as she worked on a recruiting app designed to help high school student-athletes and college recruiters connect, offering a solution to the often fragmented recruiting process. Through the Sports Reach app, athletes can directly message coaches, upload highlight videos, publish their official transcripts and promote products.
While she had this idea in mind for years, she needed a team to bring it to life.
Kiszczak shared the struggles she faced when trying to get recruited as a competitive diver with her group, who understood the issues she faced as almost everyone else on her team played a sport.
This is where Horiuchi, Oestergren, Senel, Diep and Escovedo came together to push Kiszczak’s idea forward.
“Sports Reach is all about helping the underrepresented sports.” Horiuchi said. “It’s just trying to help those athletes get the recognition they deserve to get to college.”
Last August, the ETHOS seniors began brainstorming business ideas to enter into the Virtual Enterprise State Business Competition. These ideas included Bullet Blinds (bulletproof blinds to be installed in schools), Rad Cases (phone cases that protect their users from radiation) and more.
Differently from last year, the ETHOS program decided to only enter two teams of around 17 students instead of four small groups, because of organizational and work issues.
This new way of entering the competition allowed all students to participate in a section of their choice, whether that be business planning, sales, marketing, technology, human resources or financing. Each department had its own tasks to complete each week adding to the value of the overall team.
After days of pitching, Sports Reach and Tufwax, a biodegradable surf wax company, would be the two teams heading to the many Virtual Enterprise Business Competitions throughout the year.
With what seemed like the hardest part done, it was then time for Chief Officer applications to roll in. Students in the ETHOS program would apply for a position that interested them and later have an interview with teachers Sabrina Chase and Kellie Chiapuzio.
Eventually, Sports Reach was formed with Kiszczak as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Horiuchi as Chief Operations Officer (COO), Oestergren as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Senel as Chief Sales Officer (CSO), Diep as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Escovedo as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
The officers worked together to develop their team, strategies and goals. The shared bond and experience in the program brought them even closer to achieving their goal.
“I’ve grown to be closer and closer with this team than ever before,” Senel said. “Never had I felt so comfortable with my team than I ever perceived years ago.”
Since the preparation process, the Sports Reach team has strived and worked for each other’s success, building each other from the ground up.
“[They] drove me to work harder in order to feel at place among such great people and peers,” Diep said.
Their determination, passion and encouragement are what brought them to where they are now.
On Jan. 23, time almost stopped as they held each other’s hands, waiting for the judges to announce which teams would be moving on, first presenting the 10th place winner, or Wild Card, who would compete again to try to secure a spot to New York.
“The top nine are the ones that have a guaranteed spot to get to New York,” Oestergren said. “The 10th place is like a wild card. So you sort of hope not to hear your name.”
Holding their breaths, they waited to hear if they would have to compete again or move on. Then a name was spoken; a name that wasn’t theirs.
“We were extremely happy about it,” Oestergren said. “Getting the news was unreal.”
