Recently junior social studies classes were given an opportunity to participate in the Titan Challenge, an online business simulator that gives students the chance to control a hypothetical company that manufactures holograms. Teams of two or three students competed against classmates to outperform each other by raising the highest profits. The top teams in each class, by the end of the period, were then able to compete in the Metro Competition on April 11th at Thrivent Financial in downtown Minneapolis.

“About four years ago I connected with Junior Achievement ,” South social studies teacher Richard Nohel explained, “I learned about the Titan Challenge and thats how we started.” The Titan Challenge lets students take on the role of a chief executive officer and control the selling, manufacturing and upgrading of the futuristic holograms. While at first glance this simulator might seem like a game it’s anything but, “It shows students that running a business is very difficult,” Nohel continued, “and that there a lot of risks you have to take.”

This simulator, The Global Titan Challenge, is based on JA Titan and allows teams of high school and university students from around the world to run simulated businesses that mimic real-world conditions. Teams are prompted to make decisions that affect the profitability and sustainability of their virtual company and attempt to outperform their competitors in profit, sales and market share.

South had nine student teams go to the Metro competition, which had forty three teams overall from schools all over the metro area, “fourteen of the forty three teams went on to regionals and two of those were from South,” said Nohel.

Regionals will be held at the Best Buy headquarters in Richfield sometime in late May, where South students will compete to become the top high school business executives in Minneapolis.