Next Gen Leadership students excel in JA Titan program

Next Generation Leadership Ohio County Class recently finished up its fall session where participants took part in the JA Titan Program.

The Next Generation Leadership Class consists of high school juniors and seniors who, among other activities and programs, participate in two Junior Achievement programs that rotate each year in order to give all students the opportunity to participate in each.

This year, the students took part in the JA Titan program which is a simulation-based program in which students compete as business CEOs in the smartphone industry, experiencing firsthand how an organization evaluates alternatives, makes decisions, analyzes the outcomes of those decisions and then strategizes what to do next.

The Next Generation Leadership program is aimed to inspire and give students skills to become good leaders in the future. The program is part of the Ohio County Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Junior Achievement.

The students work in teams to make

financial decisions about production, marketing, research and development and corporate social responsibilities. The teams compete in 20 different business quarters across seven sessions and as a team control all business aspects. The computer software lets them know in real-time how their company is doing.

“It’s cool because after each quarter, they can see the other company’s prices just like in the real world and they can adjust their prices based on what the other companies are doing and what their sales volume is,” said Chase Vincent who assists with the Next Generation Leadership and JA programs.

Vincent said during each of the sessions the students have to do a “deep dive” into each of the decision-making areas.

This year’s winning team consisted of Brandon Messman, Evan Parker, Nikolas Prewitt, Kamora Hayes and Xanthe Hoover.

“This (winning) team, they were head and shoulders above the competition. They were the highest-grossing team that I have seen in doing this program. They ended up netting $30 million. They were also the first team that I know of that has done the simulation that developed every feature on the phone. They were so aggressive that by the end of the simulation, there were no more features to develop ... I really want to commend them for how well they did.”

The team is now eligible to compete in the national JA Titan competition that will be held this spring.

This spring, the Next Generation Leadership Ohio County class will be doing more of the traditional Next Generation Leadership activities like visiting different industries and “learning a little bit more about what makes Ohio County the place that it is,” Vincent said.

Vincent said the Titan program is specifically important for students because it provides a belief that if they want to, they can start or run their own business.

“It instills an entrepreneurial mindset. I think it is worthwhile in your career whether you are a business owner or not,” he said.

Next year, the Next Gen Leadership Class will participate in the JA High School Heroes program where students will teach JA programs to elementary school students.