A big attraction for VE is the trade shows that the students attend. A lot of bonding takes place over the 2-3 days of being at a trade show. I was really worried about what VE would be like last year without the ability to travel, without the field trips, without trade shows. I was excited at the summer teacher conference to learn that VE would be doing virtual trade shows (much like the International Trade Show of April 2020).

I was nervous about getting buy-in from the kids when they know that VE goes to Pigeon Forge and New York and they aren’t getting to go anywhere. The demo trade show, regional trade shows, national, and international trade shows were strategically scheduled throughout the year. It gave the students something to look forward to almost monthly. I rotated the kids that participated in the trade shows so that they all received the experience.

VE was engaging last year because there was something going on year round. My VE students were engaged in online trade shows, certification practice, or competitions all year long. Thanks to Intuit paying for QuickBooks certification, two of my students were able to get QuickBooks certification last year. One of those students is in college now pursuing a business degree, the other has returned to VE for a second credit. Those certifications will help those students immensely in college and in their careers. My students and I also were very appreciative of the flexibility of the competitions and other aspects of VE.

I loved how the VE staff was always there to help. The new chat feature in the Hub was a plus. It was nice to know that given the circumstances of last school year, the national office staff were aware and in tune with what teachers needed. The national staff was always happy to help in any way possible. It couldn’t have been easy to keep up with what every teacher needed all year long. Sometimes as teachers we feel like our support team is very out of touch with what really goes on in a public classroom, but I can attest that VE staff is not out of touch!

Story contributed by Marilyn Roberts

We could not have actual visitors in the school, only virtual ones. In the beginning of the year it seemed too overwhelming to try to get mentors to virtually meet, however as the year continued, the students found that using FaceTime worked great when working on department tasks, and slowly they adapted to our new normal. The students were all in when I suggested we create a booth in our Commons (huge center hallway outside the VE classroom) and use it during the online trade shows. They actually pulled in the Woods department to help build part of the booth. They were SUPER proud, as was I!

The VE students were engaged by all of the competitions and the Global Business Challenge. My students were ALL in and it was so great to see. Our firm came in 3rd place for the QuickBooks competition. This in and of itself was amazing, but what made it extra special and memorable for me was that one of the students in this group was going to drop VE in the beginning of the year. He told me that he felt like he did not belong and was way out of his league because he felt that most of the other students knew so much more about business. He decided to try staying in VE for another 30 days. Not only did he stay in VE, but he went on to get promoted to VP of Accounting, was on the Finance AND the QuickBooks competition team AND WON 3RD PLACE!!! I will never forget that moment when they announced our firm as 3rd place. We have seriously never been prouder.

Along with that was the Global Business Challenge that we would have never participated in had it not been online. The two students who participated felt it was such an amazing experience and one is back again this year. One of the first things he spoke about to the new group this year was his experience working with students from all over the world. The kids hung onto every word.

In hindsight, it really was a great year in VE. I continuously reiterated to my students about how this class was still mimicking the real business world as we faced so many logistical challenges. They embraced this idea most of the year and they tried to take advantage of every opportunity VE had to offer. On top of that, I added some things that I never seemed to have time to do in the past, such as having ALL students learn Canva, and making sure ALL students participated in at least one of the national competitions.

Story contributed by Jamie Dunlap

The success of a VE firm depends on students collaborating, holding each other accountable, and delivering on a variety of tasks. Last year was so challenging in all my other classes because students were isolated and in many cases, unmotivated to engage. However, my VE students embodied small business owners/employees who were forced to pivot under these trying circumstances. Our leaders led by example, motivated and drove their teams, and executed on their vision. We used Microsoft Teams and created breakout rooms so that departments could meet and get work done together, and we used “conference rooms” in Teams so that departments could collaborate when necessary.
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By far the most engaging VE contribution was holding so many trade shows online. This gave students the opportunity to earn revenue early in the year, and to see what other firms were doing. I assigned attendance/purchases from a minimum number of other firms, which encouraged my students to visit several.

The growth and development of these young people during the course of this program is inspiring. They came in as typical teens, and left with experiences, pride in accomplishment, and a feeling of COMPETENCE that they might not have developed in any other course.

Story contributed by Laurie Acosta, VE Facilitator

The 2020-2021 School year was challenging because our VE program went from being all in person but six feet apart with masks or talking distance with masks and shields, to fully remote to back in person again with full safety protocols in place. Being at a career center that draws from five local school districts, with students that participate in many different school related activities, there was never a week that we were all present whether our class was meeting in person or online. Sometimes, it was a student or two working remotely, sometimes it was their team, and sometimes it was their entire high school. At one point, I was quarantined at home and teaching via Zoom and a smart board in the classroom.

VE’s curriculum and Hub made it possible to not only continue moving forward, it actually allowed us to accomplish more than we have in the past. All students could access their department tasks online via the VE Hub. Students used the firm email to communicate with each other. We actually moved our entire business online utilizing the firm Google Drive and VE hub. This was a great simulation of what was happening all over the world.

In the past, we would attend a couple trade shows that would include students from our region and/or the neighboring region. With VE’s quick transition to online events, we were able to participate in our first international trade show and network with students from other countries.

In the past, we would invite guest speakers in from our local area into our classroom. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 we were not allowed to have guests into our building. Again, meeting the new needs of our firm, VE arranged Digital Meet & Greets for both our firms with business professionals, Jessie Smith and Dennis Wong. They helped us fine tune our business ideas and develop best practices. When we invited John Avery from FIS Global to join us via Zoom he was impressed with our VE firm, the program, and our employees. In his thank you email, his comments included: “What a great group of students….. I was impressed with how Brooke led the class in such a thoughtful Q&A and her elevator pitch” and “Thanks so much for another awesome session with an amazing group today! I was particularly impressed with Teagan’s elevator pitch and representation of the team’s work.”

We were able to complete and submit national competitions online collaborating from many different locations. We participated for the first time ever in the D4D competition, Global Innovation Challenge, VE Student Influencer program, and qualified as a national finalist in the Business Plan Competition. Both our firms, Imagineers and Overseek, made the VE Top 50 for the 2020-21 school year.

Although we were not in control of our circumstances, we thrived because we had the support system created by VE and it’s amazing staff!

Story contributed by Carrie Smith

At Montclair High our VE program is a capstone to our CTE pathway. When we were sent home in March of 2020 my VE class was able to transform our Face Painting business into a supplier of specialty designed masks. Based on this success, I had confidence that students in VE for the 2020-21 school year could manage VE.

My biggest challenge was building relationships among the class through video conferencing rather than in-person. I only had one student in the class that I knew from a previous year and so we began our Covid-19 school year with a big focus on team building. Through the use of Zoom breakout rooms, and a variety of activities they became experts on screen sharing, Zoom chat, and Microsoft Teams, while at the same time developing strong working relationships. I knew we were going to be okay when students started working on projects together and would meet in the evenings on their own or would invite me to work with them on competition items. Using the D4D curriculum we brainstormed and researched problems we could find solutions to during the pandemic. Students were engaged further by the creation of surveys they developed and then sent out to family, friends, and other classes to further focus their product idea.

Since we are on the West Coast our times to cover for trade shows were often early in the morning and would span 6 hours. As we prepared, department leaders would take charge to make sure everyone in their department understood the product and how to process sales. By April, I was amazed with how they ran the final trade show, and how they easily traded off between the greeting and salesperson handoff, and how accounting ran sales reports the day after the trade show.

The VE Top 50 was influential in prioritizing our workload and was an essential tool for our CEO and VPs in driving the workflow. Having the national competitions structured the way they were with online presentations was a great experience for my group. When my QuickBooks Online team presented in the final rounds, my entire class and administrators were so impressed with the team’s knowledge but also with where the judges were from (France, India and the USA). My firm really took great pride in their presentations and being at home also gave them time to practice and hone their presentation skills. They were not the teenagers focused on by national news reports, they were engaged, learning, and having fun all at the same time and VE made it possible!

We have never qualified for a national competition, so the new structure allowed more teams to compete and give them opportunities they may have missed if we didn’t experience a pandemic shutdown of our school. I also know that if students were able to go out, they may have had less time to commit to our business. Creating a culture of excellence and allowing students to work online together also reduced the problems of getting together physically to finish tasks.

As a VE Facilitator/Area Leader for over 20 years I was able to truly see that all my students understood what it takes to run their own business.

Story contributed by Lori Jepson

My 8th graders needed this trade show more than anything and when we decided, on a whim last week to participate, I knew I wasn’t going to let them take away anything less than they deserve. Their 7th grade was cut short due to COVID-19 and we have been remote ever since. My students face adversity of every form and are from a community where exposure to positive opportunities are limited.

I have had students in the past week stay up all night to work hard making a website and logo and conduct market research (some of whom had to do so from their cell phones due to technology issues). They have worked tirelessly on something they fully didn’t grasp until today’s trade show.

Not only did they have a blast, they actually spoke to humans for the first time in 10 months. Some of these kids haven’t left the house once so for them it was exactly what they needed for their social skills. One of my students who was a new English-language learner student last year began to regress this year and hasn’t really been “there” during class much…HOWEVER…after a late night FaceTime with her number one fan (me) last night, she agreed to try participating in the trade show. She KILLED it!!! She was in the Lobby and instead of being our front line translator for Spanish-speaking customers, she greeted customers in English and did her thing. There are so many students that I can brag about, and it doesn’t feel bad at all, because it is rare these days they hear praise.

I am so thankful for this event and I am so happy we had the opportunity to do it!

Story contributed by Jessika Rosen