LAKEVILLE — Students from Apponequet Regional High School placed first in the recent JA Titan Business Challenge at UMass Dartmouth. More than 150 students from seven high schools throughout southern Massachusetts competed.

The JA Titan Business Challenge is a business strategy competition in which high school students compete against other schools in teams using an online, interactive business simulation game which provides students with essential business knowledge.

Apponequet team members were Judson Cardinali, Logan Frias and Tyler Gray. The team’s business mentor volunteer was Michael Patacao of Bristol County Savings Bank.

Each team member received $1,000 in scholarship money for the winning effort. To prepare for the competition, students practiced and learned key business concepts that they needed to employ during the business simulation. The day of the event, participants attended a leadership and strategy panel in which members of the business community reinforced concepts and offered professional advice.  

Teams then engaged in three rounds of competition as each team made decisions under the guidance of more than 50 volunteer business mentors.  Students competed for college scholarships while gaining insight into the world of business, at no cost to the students or their high schools.  

In addition to developing budgets and interpreting financial reports, students increased their knowledge of pricing, production, capital investment, research and development, marketing and charitable giving.

Junior Achievement of Southern Massachusetts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart academic and economic choices.