By Katie Breitbach

Of the Gleaner

As of about a month and a half ago, a group of young men have been involved with Wahlert’s Business Team. Alex Fischer ‘17, said, “We came in, began playing the simulator, and it really taught me a lot about the real-life aspects of a business. It has caused me to become more interested in this subject, and actually consider it as a career choice.”

JA Titan is the simulator that the Business Team uses to compete with other teams. It is set in the year 2035 and produces halogenerators, which are the iPhones of the future. Cole Buman, ‘17, said that, “It allows the team members to be the CEOs of the company, and see how well they can run the business. The real life experience, and the team members involved, is what makes this enjoyable.”

The team meets about four times per week, and on three of those days they engage with the simulator, while the fourth day, their mentor, Pete Fricano, checks in with them. Fricano teaches about JA Titan at the college level, and Mitchel Morel, ‘17, said that, “Pete Fricano is very knowledgeable about finance, in both the simulation and the real world.”

Morel added, “Coming into this team, most of us took it as a joke, thinking it would just be something to do for fun, but then it got serious. We learned that other schools were actually really good, and at that point, we were there to win, not mess around.”

There are multiple rounds in the competition, and the first round was held Nov. 9th. Wahlert’s teams finished second and third out of eight teams in their group and so did not advance. If they had placed first, they would have moved on to the scholarship round. Winners of that round will be awarded a $2,000 scholarship.

“We have one goal, and that is to provide halogenerators for all of America. In fact, we want to provide them for the whole world. It is overall a very fun and quite competitive experience,” says Morel.