ghs

GHS Senior Secures top business honor

Editor Josie Chaffin

Madelyn "Macy" Cohn, a senior at our very own Gloucester High School, received $2000 dollars cash and an $8000 dollar scholarship after gaining first place at the Hampton Roads Business Communication Competition.

The Hampton Roads Business Communication Competition is a competition hosted by Norfolk State University. To participate, a candidate must write a paper consisting of five pages and must create a 10-minute long presentation regarding the possible future impact of robotics on humanity in the years to come in various sectors, including Transportation, Manufacturing, Health care, Tourism & Hospitality, Banking, Accounting, Sales & Marketing, and more. While competing, each participant must create a slideshow (at least 5 slides long) and be able to present fluently and with a five minute section giving people to ask questions based off of the project. All High School Students (grades 9 through 12) were able to compete.

When asked what exactly Miss Cohn did to win the competition, she stated that she “...gave [her] best presentation, [and] tried to put the least amount of words on the slides.” She wanted to make it interesting, trying not to drag it out too much by getting straight to the punch.

While she worked very hard on her project, a large part of her victory probably goes to the fact that she has been working with robotics since her fourth grade year. She stated that she puts her passion into it, putting her heart and soul into her projects. Another part of her victory was due to the help of Mrs. Simpson with her presentation, and Ms. Sharp’s keen eye on the project. They supported her throughout the competition. “Mrs. Simpson was the sponsor. She helped me set up my presentation [and] she came to the competition,” Madelyn states.

Later, when asked what she planned to do with her $2000 cash and $8000 scholarship, she responded with a very sensible answer. The $2000 will go towards Virginia Tech, the college that she plans to attend. “I’m going to VA Tech,” she says,”so it will cover my room and board for the next couple years.” She plans to use the $8000 scholarship on her first few years in Tech’s engineering division as well.

All in all, this victory was a quite huge step up and has helped set up Miss Madelyn Cohn for success in her future in robotics and engineering.