Members of the Entrepreneurs Club at Hudson Valley Community College traveled to the fourth annual Free Enterprise Marathon at SUNY Plattsburgh on March 4, and came home with a second-place finish in the national competition. The team consisted of students Emily Connolly, Matthew Whalen, Durgin McCue, and Samantha Longton, with Jamie Waller who also earned a separate award.
At the competition, all teams were given a few hours to come up with a new product idea for McDonald’s. No information was available prior to the competition. The teams used marketing strategies to create a new product, design, promotions and anything else that would sell to McDonald’s.
“We knew we had a challenge trying to come up with a new, healthy concept that would appeal to the judges who were McDonald’s executives, but once we hit the ground running, we knew we had something big,” said Matt Whalen. The team came up with a new product called McKickin’ — chicken nuggets tossed and coated in a spicy, sriracha sauce.
“The support from our faculty advisers, Jodi Mather and Robert Braathe, as well as from the administration made this event an extremely successful endeavor,” said Jamie Waller. The team learned valuable skills about marketing and entrepreneurship that helped them with their success and for future experiences. This was the first year that Hudson Valley sent a team to the national competition.
At the national competition, the Entrepreneurs Club hosted a speak-off competition in which Jamie Waller placed fourth. Waller won the speak-off competition during the preliminary competition at Hudson Valley Community College on Feb. 17. McCue, Longton, and Whalen also were winners that day with a new product idea for 16 Handles frozen yogurt shop, earning the chance to compete in Plattsburgh.
“I really appreciate the opportunity provided by the college and SUNY Plattsburgh. We were new to the competition and really didn’t know what to expect. I am thrilled with the outcome, and really enjoyed seeing this dynamic team of students represent the college with such high quality and professionalism. I hope to see their concept in McDonald’s restaurants in the future,” said Professor Mather.
Hudson Valley’s Free Enterprise Team and advisors: Jodi Mather, Robert Braathe, Matt Whalen, Durgin McCue, Emily Connolly, Samantha Longton and Jamie Waller.
Published: Thu, 10 Mar 2016 13:26:36 +0000 by d.gardner