The Chino Valley Chamber of Commerce (CVCC) held a Student Pitch Competition at The Shoppes on November 6th. High school students received the opportunity to present their business ideas, and the CVCC awarded them up to $5,000.

Everyone sent in videos to pitch their business plan before the judges. There were seven groups of finalists chosen to participate in the final event, and all of them were from this school! Many of the students were either in the club Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) or Mr. Art Boren’s AP Seminar class.

“FBLA is an organization that is supported by the California Department of Education,” Boren said. “And as such, we explore business topics, go to competitions, have guest speakers come in, and we also attend or will be attending business tools.”

Mr. Boren used to own a packaging business and believes that it is important for his students to learn about the business field.

“My overall experience was quite enjoyable,” sophomore Daniel Choi said. “I met a lot of entrepreneurs that gave me advice on how to be good at school and on how to talk to people. From the business meetings, I feel like I learned a lot of entrepreneurship skills.”

Choi serves as Speaker of the House for USB. He has a true passion for leadership and desires to become an entrepreneur. Other members of his team included junior Katie Cheng and sophomore Andrew Hwang. 

“The business plan that we pitched was building a personalized tutoring app where, I don’t want to say like Tinder, but it’s kind of like swiping left or right to find your personalized tutor,” Choi said. “A lot of tutor companies all have older teachers, but for our tutor app, it’s centralized in high school.”

After winning second place, Choi’s team received a $1,700 reward. The first-place winner, sophomore Nicole Ochoa, won $2,000. Prize winners can use the money to invest in their product.

“My business plan was MIGHT,” Ochoa said, “which is an all around inclusive medical app that helps people keep track of symptoms and other medical needs. It is especially inclusive to those with disabilities.”

Ochoa decided to work alone on this project because she had been thinking about the idea for a while. During the pandemic, she had noticed that it became harder to communicate with doctors effectively about medical needs.

“One of the main points of the app is that it will compile all of your symptoms and medicines you take and turn it into a report to send to your doctors,” Ochoa said. “With the growth of climate change, it is important to try to cut down on paperwork, especially when there is a better way: the MIGHT way!”

Not only was her pitch supported by examination, but she can relate to the topic. She struggles with keeping up with her medication and knows others who have trouble with it as well. Her ability to relate aided in her success at the competition.

Choi considers everything in life business-related. So he believes FBLA is an outlet for students to learn skills that can help them in many areas of their lives.

“I feel like these business competitions give kids opportunities to become entrepreneurs and succeed in their own business. It’s a platform for kids who think creatively, economically.”