A group of four Amherst Regional High School students: Ben Breger, Nick Mone, Viet Nguyen and Derek Osborne participated in a national business competition sponsored by Deloitte, one of the big four accounting firms in America. 2305 teams from across the nation participated in the Virtual Team Challenge and Amherst finished first, winning the national competition.
The Virtual Team Challenge is an online business simulation designed to test students’ knowledge of business and ethical concepts as well as to stimulate interest for entering the field of accounting. In the challenge students had the opportunity to experience different aspects of working as an employee for a fictional professional services firm. Each student fulfilled several roles as an employee hiring vendors and completing side missions to raise the most money to clean up an oil spill in New City. With the detail oriented nature of the game, it stresses the importance of careful research and time management, not impulsive decisions.
The key to winning the Virtual Team Challenge for Amherst was teamwork and collaboration to solve dilemmas in the simulation. All four players knew that in order to do well in the competition they could not work as individuals but had to collaborate as a team. Teamwork is not only necessary in business but a tool needed to create leadership, responsibility, and success in life.
To honor these students, Deloitte hosted a ceremony at Amherst Regional High School on Friday, January 9, 2009. At the ceremony, Deloitte made a monetary donation to the local United Way and Amherst Regional High School. Prizes were be awarded to the four team members.
Please visit www.virtualteamchallenge.com to view the top 400 teams in the competition.
Photos by Julian Summa