Over the summer, a team of young entrepreneurs led by Michaela Kastelman, Gr. 9, won the Camp Bizsmart competition, sponsored by companies such as Cisco, Better World Books, Revolution Foods and Hara. Kastelman was one of three Harker students in the group, along with fellow freshman Michael Cheng and Sachin Vadodaria, Gr. 8. The team designed an application for the Apple iPhone that tracks energy usage. In September, the team presented its idea to the CEO of Hara, a company that develops Web-based software deployed by businesses to track the use of resources and reduce emissions.

Freshmen Sarina Vij and Piyush Prasad also participated on a team of their own, presenting a business plan to energy supplement seller FRS. Their plan to market the company’s Healthy Energy Line to the teenage demographic was voted “most likely to go to market” by a panel of judges. FRS president and chief executive officer Maigread Eichten said the team’s business plan was better than the one proposed by a group of MBA students who were tasked with creating a similar proposal.

On Nov. 18, the members of the winning team were honored at the finals of the Newpreneur of the Year competition, held in San Francisco. During the event,  influential businessman and best-selling author Tom Peters took the time to talk to the young entrepreneurs and pose for a photo. One attendee remarked that the students speaking with Peters “is like young musicians talking with Paul McCartney. Nothing beats meeting a living legend.”