Lake Brantley High Finishes #1 in Annual Florida Tech Business Ethics Competition
MELBOURNE, FLA.—The team from Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs, coached by Kent Kersten, took first place in the Florida Institute of Technology Nathan M. Bisk College of Business High School Business Ethics Competition. The 16th annual event was held on March 9.
Palm Bay High School, advised by Amy Evans, took second place; Edgewood High School, advised by Beth Snyder, took third place; and West Shore Junior/Senior High School, advised by Bob Sarver, came in fourth. All participating students were juniors or seniors.
In the day-long event, 14 teams from 11 schools in Brevard County and Lake Brantley High School in Seminole County participated. All the teams developed and analyzed solutions to a business ethics problem involving Google and Internet privacy.
The top four schools competed again, wrestling with another real ethics problem, the “An Internet Parasite” case. The teams’ dilemma was to apply ethical critical thinking to evolving cyberspace practices, for example, pop-up advertisements.
The event was sponsored by Community Credit Union. Judges, from a variety of career fields, included 19 Nathan M. Bisk College of Business Board of Overseers members and many prominent members of the community.
“The level of performance of the teams was most outstanding,” said Annie Becker, dean of the Nathan M. Bisk College of Business. “We are also very pleased by the support of our Board of Overseers.”
First place Brantley High team members were John Hattan, Kyle Davis and Kasia Burzynski; second place Palm Bay High team members were Melissa Couture, Charlotte Hoyt, David Nocerino and Christina Rigel; third place Edgewood High team members were Lillian Dumoulin, Amanda Hinchman, Riley Steward and Meghan Tezel; and fourth place West Shore team members were Kate Crowley, Yasmeen Elsawaf, Kendra Hatt and Cayleigh Reeder.
The awards were: $500 per member in the first-place team; $250 per member in the second-place team; $125 per member in the third-place team; and $100 per member in the fourth-place team.
Also, each member of the top team receives an award of a four-year $8,000-per-year scholarship to Florida Tech. A four-year $6,000-per-year scholarship to Florida Tech goes to each member of the second-place team. A four-year $4,000-per-year scholarship to Florida Tech goes to each member of the third-place team; and a four-year $2,000-per-year scholarship to the university goes to each member of the fourth-place team.
Other participating schools were Cocoa High School, Heritage High School, Melbourne High School, Merritt Island High School, Satellite Beach High School, Space Coast Junior/Senior High School and Viera High School.
PHOTO CUTLINE: Lake Brantley High School number one team, left to right: Kyle Davis; Kasia Burzynski; John Hattan; Deborah Blair, Community Credit Union; and Annie Becker, dean of the Nathan M. Bisk College of Business.