"Empowering Tomorrow's Leaders: Highlights from the 18th Annual JA Titan Competition"

Author: Destinee Wilson
Entrepreneurship
Published: Wednesday, 01 May 2024

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1st place students smile with a trophy next to their volunteer and educator

Image caption: 1st place students from Washington Community High School with their Volunteer and Educator

Because of our generous donors – Komatsu, PMP Fermentation, Morton Industries, Illinois Central College (ICC), BTD, Illinois American Water, and Civic Digital Displays, we had the pleasure of hosting students from East Peoria Community High School, Limestone Community High School, and Washington Community High School at the 18^th Annual JA Titan Competition.

JA Titan is a simulation-based program in which high school students compete as business CEOs in the phone industry, experiencing firsthand how an organization evaluates alternatives, makes decisions, analyzes the outcomes of those decisions, and then strategizes what to do next. Students worked in teams to make financial decisions about production, marketing, research and development, and corporate social responsibility for their company. After learning the program through the semester in the classroom with their local business professional volunteer, they brought their learned skills and experience to compete to bring home coveted prizes and the first-place trophy for their school!

Midway through the competition, the students took a much-needed break to enjoy a delicious lunch generously donated by Illinois Central College’s Business, Legal, and Information Systems Department. The lunch doubled as a networking experience for the high school students to visit with business leaders from a multitude of industries in central Illinois. These business leaders volunteered to be paired up with students at each table to share their educational and career journey, as well as, take questions from the students on various topics.

Before heading to the final round of the competition Cody Giebelhausen, Designated Managing Broker of LaHood Real Estate and Founder of Civic Digital displays provided keynote remarks. Cody spoke on the hard work, dedication, and perseverance it took to get to where he is now, as well as how he makes plans to keep growing his professional skills and his impact on the community.

In the end, the top performing three teams were Team Plasma from Washington Community High School taking first place, Team Infinity from Limestone Community High School taking second, and Team Connectify, also from Washington Community High School, taking third place. These teams have qualified to participate on behalf of JA of Central Illinois in the JA Titan National Competition on May 14^th! The first-place winning team of the JA Titan National Competition will be invited on an expenses to attend an awards ceremony at JA USA’s NSLS (National Student Leadership Summit) this June in Washington, DC!