[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/hsbh_winners.jpg” caption=”Winners of High School Business Heroes from St. Mary Catholic Secondary School. From left to right, Brittney Furtado, Kailey Ross, Danica Karl, Kelly Moulden and Joe Caeilla, Harvey’s franchisee owner.”]The DeGroote School of Business held final presentations and closing ceremonies yesterday for the High School Business Heroes marketing competition.

The competition challenged Hamilton's and Halton's brightest teens to develop a charitable event for their local communities. More than 150 students participated, and last night five finalist teams were given the opportunity to pitch their events to a panel of judges.

The teams were competing for a $2,000 prize as well as a $7,500 grant from Hamilton Harvey's franchisees that would be used to implement a charitable event in the Hamilton community.

Kailey Ross, Kelly Moulden, Brittney Furtado and Danica Karl from St. Mary's Catholic Secondary School were crowned the first ever High School Business Heroes. They will use the $7,500 to hold “Rhythm and Runway,” a fashion show and dance off with proceeds going to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

“I and the other judges were blown away by the professionalism, hard work and passion of these students,” says Joe Caeilla, Harvey's franchisee owner. “Harvey's is an active partner in the Hamilton and Halton communities, and High School Business Heroes gave us the opportunity to develop this partnership in new ways.”

Over the course of the competition, the student teams raised more than $8,000 for various charities, including the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, McMaster Children's Hospital, Gift for Rebecca Foundation, Children's Wish Foundation and the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Perhaps more importantly, High School Business Heroes has inspired a continuing sense of altruism in the participants. Joe Homsy and Andrew Tadros from Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary raised $3,150 for Breast Cancer by selling more than 220 waffles at their school and plan to make their breakfast an annual event and expand to other schools in the Hamilton area.

Bishop Tonnos student Chelsea White explained, “If we win, I just want to donate my share of the $2,000 back to McMaster Children's Hospital.”

Competition organizer Christina Wood says, “We started High School Business Heroes to give high school students an introduction into business. We wanted to teach them marketing, budgeting, project management skills. It turned out to be much more of a learning experience than we expected. We are extremely pleased that we have inspired so many of these students to give back and impact the Hamilton and Halton communities in such a positive way.”