Let’s Get Down to Business

On Sunday, March 13, Poly students participated in Project ECHO, a business plan competition where students have to create a business and pitch it to a panel of investors. The acronym ECHO stands for “Economic Concepts Hands On.” The competition was held at LMU University and was a preliminary to the official ECHO competition to be held at UCLA on April 17.
The day started at 8 AM with check-in at Loyola. Then, the students listened to an introduction in the auditorium. Next, the students re-located to their assigned rooms to give their presentations. After that, they ate lunch and listened to the keynote speaker while the judges scored their presentations. At the end, the winners were announced and invited to compete at the next.
The competition was a special day since only students from Poly and Banning competed because of the numbers of students who participate. At Poly, freshmen students from PACE, CIC, and Pac Rim competed. Since it is a preliminary competition, two teams in each category (retail, tech, and food) from each academy were chosen to move on to the final ECHO day.
From PACE, the winners of the retail category were Simplicity and Tanked. The winners of the tech category were Kono Cards and WaterWise. The winners of the food category were Pressed and The Social Study.
“The experience was beneficial because from it, I have learned how to work with a group, what makes an idea inspiring, and the practical implementation it takes to turn a concept into reality,” said freshman Caris White from Kono Cards.
From CIC, the winners of the retail category were Get Real and Mall Care. The winners of the tech category were Get Schooled and Occupied. Sporty Foods, Eh? won in the food category.
“ECHO helped with our confidence. After our presentation we felt we did terribly, so when we won we were very surprised and it boosted our confidence in our presenting skills,” said a CIC member from Mall Care.
From Pac Rim, the winners of the retail category were Metamorphosis and Teen to Teen Tours. The winners of the tech category were Jordanian School for Women and ArtGen.
“Project ECHO taught me to work well with others and prepared me for the real world,” said junior Anthony Hokenson from Teen to Teen Tours.