McHenry Times

Community High School District 155 issued the following announcement on March 8.

Crystal Lake South High School’s Virtual Enterprise, Unwind, will travel to New York City next month to participate in the National Business Plan Competition as part of the VEI Youth Business Summit. The group qualified for the event after they won first place at the Illinois Business Plan Competition in December.

Unwind was formed during the fall of 2017 and consists of 24 juniors and seniors. The goal of the company is to reduce stress and anxiety in high school students by selling a variety of products. Every student in the organization has specific job, including CEO, COO, CFO, and VP of Product Marketing.

“For all of us, Unwind has had a huge step in our development, not only as business minded individuals, but as leaders and people,” said Mariano Caballero,Crystal Lake South senior at Unwind.

At the Illinois State Business Plan Competition, the students had to write a 28-page business plan, pitch their company, and answer questions from a panel of judges who acted like potential investors.

The stakes will be even higher at the the National Competition. Unwind will compete against more than 30 firms for a $10,000 check.

“We are allowed and have worked to improve both our written and oral presentations of Unwind’s business plan,” said Caballero. “We really are working to stand out even more with what we’ve done since the state competition.”

The Unwind group is grateful for having the opportunity to explore the business world in the classroom and some students plan to continue their passion for business when they attend college in the fall.

“I am very excited and thankful for this opportunity in VEI. Who knows, maybe I’ll be a real CFO someday with the experience from this extraordinary organization,” said Julia Lavorata, Crystal Lake South senior.

The National Business Plan Competition takes place April 15 through April 17 in New York City.

Original source can be found here.