The Young Professionals Chamber of Commerce (“YPCC”), a program of the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, hosted their Sixth Annual Business Leadership Competition at Farmingdale State College on Wednesday December 3rd.  This year more than 165 high school students from Commack, Deer Park, Half Hollow Hills East, Harborfields, Manor Plains, Northport, Oyster Bay, St. Dominic’s, Walt Whitman, and Wilson Technological Center participated.  A luncheon and awards ceremony followed the competition.

The competition provided students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge through presentations in the categories of Fashion Marketing, Hospitality Services, Advertising, Graphic Design, E-Commerce, Real Estate, Sports Management, Sports Marketing, Entrepreneurship, and Job Interview Skills.

The event is made possible through the generosity of this year’s sponsors:  Adelphi University, Assemblyman Andrew Raia, BAE Systems, Briarcliffe College, Farmingdale State University, Five Towns College, Home Depot,  JVKellyGroup and Molloy College.

2008 YPCC Business Leadership Competition Winners

Fashion Marketing: 

• First Place:  Shannon O’Donnelly and Danielle Leone, Wilson Tech
• Second Place:  Danielle Plotkin, Commack
• Honorable Mention: Katie Geddes, Northport, Brittney Quinones and Katherine Mendez, Walt Whitman   

Hospitality Services:

• First Place: Amanda Daley and Melissa Magnani, Commack
• Second Place:  Rebecca Lamorte, Commack
• Honorable Mention:  Amanda Horn and Diana DePaula, Walt Whitman

Advertising:          

• First Place: Melissa Bloecker and Kelly Benini, Northport   
• Second Place: Dylan Berkenfeld and Michael Mead, Half Hollow Hills East
• Honorable Mention:  Brook Covell and Nicole Matarese, Oyster Bay

     
Graphic Design:   

• First Place: Jennifer Kaplan and Judith Sass, Wilson Tech       
• Second Place: Angela Kulewicz and Marie Zuck, Wilson Tech
• Honorable Mention: Nikki Fabrizio and Aseef Raiham, Walt Whitman

Sports Management:  

• First Place: Caitlin Meuser, Walt Whitman   
• Second Place:  Mike Jonke and Mike Levine, Commack
• Honorable Mention: Andrew Benin and Declan Morgan, Commack

Sports Marketing:      

• First Place:  Bobby Brenan and Noel Purcell, Northport
• Second Place:   Kristy Falango and Billy Shields, Northport                              
• Honorable Mention:  Jason Zweig and Phil Pollack, Commack

E-Commerce:           

• First Place: Geraldine Cheung and Sam King, Northport       
• Second Place: Alex Feldman, Commack
• Honorable Mention:  Adam Camiolo and Zachary Bernheimer, Commack

Entrepreneurship:     

• First Place:  Jonathan Balsano and Jordan Stone, Walt Whitman       
• Second Place:  Brian Larsen, Commack

Real Estate:              

• First Place:  Madeline Ng and Jackie Sperber, Commack   
• Second Place: Christine Carillo and Kristen Dauro, Harborfields       

Job Interview 9th and 10th Grade:     

• First Place:  Amanda Zemaitis, Commack
• Second Place: Jake Liberman, Commack   

Job Interview: 11th and 12th Grade          

• First Place: Leanne Pinard, Commack
• Second Place: James Buda, Northport

Job Interview

• First Place: Joseph Falcetta, Deer Park
• Second Place: Andrew Ham, Wilson Tech
• Honorable Mention:  Amanda Rahim, Wilson Tech

The distinguished panel of judges included: Lou Cino, Molloy College;  Christopher Erckert, EvoNetworks ; Karen Fischer, Home Depot; Aaron Foss, Alegean; Sanja Jerkovic, Goodman Financial MetLife; Paul Lancey, Lighthouse Long Island;  Maureen Leslie, Adelphi University; Christopher LoPinto, Expert Travel Services; Christina Mazzeo, Stony Brook University; Kevin McCourt, Hub International;   Ellen O’Brien, Huntington Chamber of Commerce; Krysti O’Rourke, Five Towns College; Brian Rothschild, Adelphi University; Vita Scaturro, Community National Bank;  Maria Sneden, Coach Realtors; Jon Taylor, Newsday; Ted Torgensen, State Bank; David Walsdorf, Walsdorf Insurance Agency; Jim Werner, UBS Financial Services; Brian Wilson, Huntington Chamber of Commerce  Stacy Zager, Briarcliffe College
 
       
ABOUT THE YOUNG PROFESSIONALS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE:
As a division of the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce, the YPCC was established to engage high school students, college students and young entrepreneurs to enhance their leadership skills in a professional environment interacting with business executives, community leaders, educators and other young adults.  The YPCC offers guest speakers, networking opportunities, skill and resume building, entrepreneur workshops, internships and more.  We believe that the strength of our School-Business Partnership through the Chamber of Commerce enables us to provide educational initiatives to the dynamic students who are our future business leaders of tomorrow. For more information, contact Linda Mitchell at (631) 423-6100, Ext. 16, or visit www.huntingtonchamber.com.