UPDATE: MHS Juniors Head to Grand Championships in NY

Two juniors from Minnetonka High School are headed to New York City to compete in the DemandTec Retail Challenge Grand Championship.

Charles Du and Duncan Hurrelbrink will battle against four other teams on Jan. 17 for additional $10,000 college scholarships and the opportunity to ring the NASDAQ closing bell later that day.

The goal of the DemandTec Retail Challenge is simple: Make the biggest profit selling Tazo Tea and explain how it's done. This year, more than 60 Minnetonka High School students spent 10 days preparing and competing in the DemandTec Retail Challenge.

During the 10-day regional competition at , each team of two students came up with a business and marketing plan to make the biggest profit on Tazo Tea. Three teams out of more than 30 teams participating were selected to give their presentations in front of a panel of judges. Hurrelbrink and Du won the judges over, landing them a spot at the regional competition.

"Our goal for this competition was to find the optimal pricing of our product, figure out how to profit through the use of promotions, and be a low cost provider," Du said.

Hurrellbrink and Du then headed to the Regional Competition on Dec. 2, where they won based on a rank order quantitative score. They also received scholarships to the college of their choice.

The five semi-final round winning teams advancing to the Grand Championship include Chantel Acosta and Raify Hidalgo from Central Park East High School (NY), Elliot Tan and Kunal Sangani from Fayetteville-Manlius High School (NY), Greg Grabarek and Peter Ericksen from Wheaton-Warrenville South High School (IL), Charles Du and Duncan Hurrelbrink from Minnetonka High School (MN), and Agnes Wang and Alyssa Hartje from Mountain View High School (CA).

"The economic theroy behind this relates to the supply and demand of goods, and this is what we teach in my class," said Christopher Pears, MHS IB Economics teacher. "The kids are really competitive. They're being treated like adults. They have to price four different products and determine how much to buy."

Last year, Minnetonka High School also had two students that went on to compete in New York.

This is the second year MHS has participated, and the sixth year of the DemandTec Retail Challenge.