By Michael Ganci – Syntax NY
Smithtown Central School District’s School of Business in the Career and Technical Education Department, in cooperation with the Smithtown Industry Advisory Board, held its 21st annual Business Olympics on Nov. 19.
Fifty seven teams consisting of more than 250 students from Smithtown High Schools East and West competed in this year’s event, which was themed “Get Fit: Corporate Fitness Challenge.” The teams were tasked with creating a marketing campaign for a month promoting a “Fitness Challenge” for a company with proceeds donated to a charity of their choice. All student teams were required to have a Google Slide presentation, a month of wellness events, a print ad, a public service announcement and a marketing plan.
More than 75 judges – including community businesspeople, Smithtown High School alumni, district office, district administrative staff and members of the Smithtown Industry Advisory Board – participated in the event and judged the students on their overall presentation.
This year’s winning was the Fitness Masters, consisting of Robert Grasso, Darian Kane-Stolz, Nicole Sancilio and Victoria Tiranno. The Fitness Masters focused their attention on conducting actual market research. They created a month long fitness challenge for Citibank with daily activities, such as: Master Monday, Tone-Up Tuesday, What to Eat Wednesday, Teamwork Thursday, Framework Friday, Seminar Saturday and Sunrise Sunday. The culminating event was an Office Olympics, where employees would form teams and compete in various wellness activities throughout the day and pay an entrance fee to be donated to the Shape-Up America charity.