BYU CIBER Hosts Third Annual High School Business Language Competition

High School Language Competition first-place team members and advisors from Skyline High School. Pictured (l to r) Irma B. Hofer, Gino Gazani, Madison Lloyd, Anisa Mughal, Rogelio Franco.PROVO, Utah – Mar 8, 2012 – Students from Utah high schools along the Wasatch Front tested their language and business skills in the third annual High School Language Competition hosted by the Whitmore Global Management Center/BYU CIBER and co-sponsored by Nutraceutical Corporation and the Center for the Study of Europe at Brigham Young University.  

"Our goal is to help students interested in foreign language discover that there are other ways to use the language — not just as a tourist but also in a career setting," says Cynthia Halliday, event organizer and managing director of the Whitmore Global Management Center/BYU CIBER. "It's amazing to see the language skills that they have already developed involving business terms and principles."

Each participating school formed a team that with the challenge to develop a business plan and presentation focused on marketing Thompson Children's Chewables, a Nutraceutical Corporation product, to Utah's Hispanic Community. The teams were composed of three students, which included heritage and non-heritage Spanish speakers. The competitors spent many hours after school working on the details of their platforms and refining their language skills.

"We practiced a lot," says Madison Lloyd from Skyline High School. "We did everything with the product. We even ate and slept with it. If you present on something you have to know everything about it."

After viewing the Spanish only presentations, the executives from Nutraceutical Corporation awarded Skyline High School first place. Timpview High School and Orem High School came in second and third, respectively.

Sergio Diaz, vice president of Nutraceutical Corporation and a judge, says he was amazed at how well the students were able to articulate themselves and relate business knowledge to the competition.

"We were impressed with the language skills that they used and their ability to integrate high-level concepts and come out with a marketing plan," he says. "We were blown away by the solid content these high school students were delivering."

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems and entrepreneurship. The school's mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School's graduate and undergraduate programs.