WHB’s Virtual Enterprises class, Soteria, a cyber security firm, is looking to match last year’s team, Opal who won 1st place in the National Business Plan Competition. Can VE do it again and win first place at Nationals?

The pressure is on.  Opal beat out nearly 1,000 other VE firms throughout the country.  Already  this year the Virtual Enterprise class has had three students, Taylor Lagatolla, Patricija Dirzius, and Isabella Jimenz, who participated in winning the Women Conference at the Mastercard Tech Hub in NYC. This opportunity provided a great picture in the business realm for future students and is setting Soteria up for success.

Taylor, social media manager, described the conference as “a panel of 6 businesswomen who mentor VE students that attend the conference, on working in the business industry which they can take into their companies.” The preparation for upcoming competitions takes hard work and dedication to reach the requirements given for the competitions. 

Advisor Mrs Demchak feels this class “is in it to win it. Due to their strong work ethic and forward thinking brand, I expect them to advance to the national competition. One challenge is learning about cyber security to achieve expertise within the industry. A second challenge is always funding. The VE students request donations from corporate sponsors to pay for trade show materials, promotional items, charter buses and hotel rooms. Thankfully the sponsor funding can be attained and students can attend each trade show to compete.

This year’s regional competition is currently arranged to be January 9th at the LIU Post. This competition incorporates more than 130 creative VE firms and Soteria is hankering for a win in the top ten percent to advance into nationals, located in NYC. 

Can Soteria win a chance to compete against schools internationally? Follow their program on instagram @soteria.ve to get more info!