USC Students Win International Marketing Contest

UPPER ST. CLAIR, PA - A team of Upper St. Clair High School sophomores placed first at the Cultural Communications Alliance's Marketing Competition on April 30, 2019, at the University of Pittsburgh’s College of Business Administration. Team members include Olivia Fera, Claudia Ng, Maddie Nolen, Katherine Li and Richa Mahajan.

According to its website, “the Cultural Communications Alliance works with Pittsburgh area high school teachers to introduce international business concepts to their students using an international case competition. High school teams work on their project throughout the year before the competition final presentations.”

The six teams in the competition were tasked with preparing a marketing strategy to introduce GNC's Earth Genius SuperFoods Supreme to Japan.

“Teams had to consider culturally appropriate business practices, demographics, shipping logistics, pricing and non-market strategies,” Joanna Darakos, Upper St. Clair High School Spanish teacher, said in a statement.

The Upper St. Clair students were able to gain insight into the Japanese culture from Sensei Ramsey, Japanese teacher at Upper St. Clair High School.

Each team delivered a 12-minute presentation to a panel of four judges, which was followed by a three-minute question and answer session. Second place went to Pine-Richland High School and third place went to Pittsburgh CAPA.