(A News and Sentinel Op-Ed - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

Concord University is hosting our 31st Annual Concord Business Challenge on Thursday, October 24, allowing high school juniors and seniors from West Virginia and Virginia to showcase their business acumen in a competitive setting. I was on the CU Business faculty, when the challenge began, and now as President, I continue to see this program as one of the best things we have done for the state. We have hosted Parkersburg South High School and we would welcome having other high schools in the Mid-Ohio Valley participate.

The Concord Business Challenge is designed to give students an opportunity to test their business knowledge base by competing in a variety of business academic competitions –including accounting, business communications, finance, economics, computer applications, hospitality, management, marketing, and business math.

At a noon awards ceremony, students will be recognized for performance in each challenge exam and twelve scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $4,000 will be awarded. The top two students will qualify for up to $4,000 in scholarship funds to be awarded over eight semesters. Finally, trophies are presented to the overall top three schools with the most challenge wins. In addition, students can win door prizes of Concord University t-shirts and swag.

In the early 1990s, when the Division of Business & Economics (now named the Department of Business) was planning for more engagement with the area high schools, we began by providing professional development opportunities for the teachers, many of whom were our alumni. We enjoyed working with those alumni and their students and partnered in many projects, such as an Entrepreneurship Summer Program and others. In 1993, we expanded this relationship further by inviting our alumni teachers and other high school business teachers to bring their students to Concord for a day of testing in business subjects.

We all strongly believed that business proficiencies were important to students in nearly every aspect of their lives, their futures, and their careers, and we wanted to help them to become aware of the need for a foundational understanding of business topics. As a result, we designed the first Business Challenge and invited several high schools to bring their students to test against one another. Our professors were asked to write test questions that would challenge the students but be at a level that was achievable for high school students. That first year, Hurricane, Independence, Liberty, and Mullens High School students won “the challenge.” We tested students on topics in accounting, finance, economics, marketing, and even typing, shorthand and notehand, which were part of the business curriculum in most schools at the time.

The Business Challenge has grown and come to include high schools from around the state, along with high schools from Virginia that sit on our border. The tests have grown to include more areas of testing in business topics to reflect industry changes.

High schools who have participated include:

* Parkersburg South High School

* Academy of Career & Technical Education

* Blacksburg High School

* Bland High School

* Bluefield High School

* Fayetteville High School

* Greenbrier East High School

* Greenbrier West High School

* G.E.D.

* Giles High School

* Graham High School

* Greater Beckley Christian

* Hurricane High School

* Independence High School

* James Monroe High School

* Liberty High School

* Meadow Bridge High School

* Mercer Christian Academy

* Midland Trail High School

* Mountain View Christian School

* Mount Hope High School

* Mullens High Schools

* Narrows High School

* Nitro High School

* Oak Hill High School

* Oceana High School

* Pikeview High School

* Princeton High School

* Scott High School

* Shady Spring High School

* Summers County High School

* Valley High School

* Wheeling Park High School

* Woodrow Wilson High School

* Wyoming East High School

Our very first Business Challenge in 1993 enrolled 150 students. In 2023, 322 students attended from 12 schools, including 22 teachers, 11 of whom were our alums. Teachers bring mostly juniors and seniors to campus, but some bring sophomores to participate as well. The sophomores cannot compete, but their teachers want them to know about the Challenge and know what they need to do to be successful in competing in it when they are juniors.

A contest that has been interesting to watch is the Logo Design and Motto test. The Department asks students to design a logo and motto for next year’s Business Challenge. The creativity and thinking that goes into these submissions are wonderful, and we use the winner’s design the next year to market the event. Last year, we also began putting the logo on the trophies as well.

The Concord Business Challenge has been a catalyst for students, their teachers and parents to learn more about our educational value. As a result of this annual competition, over the years 1,063 students have enrolled at Concord University in 43 undergraduate and six graduate majors.

We’re honored to uphold the tradition of supporting the next generation of business leaders who will shape our economic future in the Mountain State and our region.

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Kendra Boggess, Ph.D., is President of Concord University. Her degrees are in business education and vocational and technical education. She has demonstrated accomplishments in planning and coordinating projects in both academic and small business environments, most notably at E. T. Boggess Architect, Inc., in Princeton, W.Va.