Lucy Gaudin, of Mackenzie College, in Fairlie, and Lana Yee, Samantha Ritchie and Gillian Brownlie, all of Otago Girls High School, spent the first week of the school holidays in Palmerston North attending New Zealand Business Week.
In its 19th year, the programme aimed to give pupils real-life business skills by allowing them to hear first-hand from specialist business speakers, and encouraging them to form their own simulated businesses.
About 75 pupils from all over New Zealand were hosted by Massey University, and business manager for the college of business, Tom Quelch, said "outstanding feedback" was received about the programme.
"We're really opening the eyes of these young people up to the business world," he said.
Marketing manager for Toyota New Zealand Mark Young attended the first business week and returned to share his story with the pupils.
"It definitely shaped my future. I found that at school you were quite constrained with what you actually learn about economics and accounting, so the New Zealand Business Week really opened up the possibilities and crystallised where I wanted to take my career," he said.
Each day had different themes focused on aspects of business such as investment, ethics and operations.
An important practical part of the programme was the formation of virtual companies. Pupils were divided into groups, chose two apparel businesses and had to make decisions on marketing, personnel, business ethics and production, in order to develop them successfully.
Simulated reports were distributed on the operation of each company and different incidents were given to the groups to manage. Staff levels, security and ethical decisions impacted on the success of the business.
At the end of the week, a trade fair was held for programme attendees and the public. Groups had to promote their companies and visitors were given investment and consumer dollars and chose which businesses to give money to.
Every night, the pupils took part in social activities which included karaoke, theatre sports and karting.
The Otago pupils all had a passion for business and studied economics and accounting at school. They were selected for the programme after writing a letter of application.
All had goals of entering the world of business by studying at the University of Otago. International business, accounting, marketing and commerce were on their lists.
Samantha left for the programme wanting to become an accountant and returned with thoughts of studying marketing after hearing from Mr Young.
She described the day the group heard from him and visited the factory as "one of the best days up there". Hearing about how Toyota advertisements ran in theme periods of 10 years and how the company managed to keep the ideas fresh for such a long time was interesting.
When a 23-year-old man spoke to the group about how he left school early and started a successful produce company before branching into hospitality, Samantha was inspired.
She learned that "you can pretty much aim high and if you keep trying you will get there".
The week was also an opportunity to spend time with other business-minded young people, as her accounting class and economics class both had just seven pupils.
The whole experience was "just amazing".
"You don't realise what goes on behind businesses," she said.
Lucy was also inspired by Mr Young and the one thing which stuck in her mind from the week was a quote from him.
"Win the heart, win the mind and then win the money."
She had learned "so much" from the experience and wanted to study international business next year.
"It was a really unique opportunity and I think everyone should go."
The week was quite full on with most days running from 7.15am to 11pm, she said. However, there was also time to have fun.
"We did a lot of stuff. It wasn't all about business though; there was a lot of team building," she said.
On the second day, they went to Linton Military Camp and completed a confidence course which made for an interesting afternoon.
Lucy learned a lot about what was essential for a business, how to invest and how to make good decisions.
Lana said the programme enabled her to improve her knowledge in practical ways through the business simulation.
"I learned how we should run a business and what decisions would be good to make."
Spending time with like-minded peers was also important to her.
"The best bit was meeting new people and knowing that you can work with them. You can use other people's abilities and skills."
Studying commerce was on the cards for Lana and she encouraged other young people to attend the course because they would learn so much.
Gillian also planned to study for a commerce degree and said the most valuable part of the week was finding out if business was the right career path for her.
She would "definitely" recommend it to anyone considering attending.
