Whimsical Wonders wins Company of the Year

Commonwealth Development Authority economic development analyst and Junior Achievement Program coordinator Carline B. Sablan, second from right, and CDA executive director Manuel A. Sablan, fifth from the left front, pose in a group photo with mentors and members of the Saipan Southern High School’s Whimsical Wonders during the CNMI Junior Achievement Company Program Spring 2016 competition’s banquet at the Pacific Islands Club’s Charley’s Cabaret on Saturday. Whimsical Wonders won the Company of the Year award and grabbed most of the awards. (Ferdie de la Torre)

Saipan Southern High School’s Whimsical Wonders won as Company of the Year and grabbed most of the awards in the CNMI Junior Achievement Company Program Spring 2016 competition.

SSHS’s Whimsical Wonders received the perpetual trophy plus cash for winning the Company of the Year award during a banquet held at the Pacific Islands Club’s Charley’s Cabaret on Saturday.

Whimsical Wonders also bagged the Best at Trade Fair, Best Business Presentation, Best Commercial, and Best in Annual Report.

In the individual awards, members from Whimsical Wonders were the top awardees—Eliezha May Mendoza as President of the Year, Tiava To’Omata as Vice President of Human Resources, Myoungki Oh as Vice President of Production, and Thomas Joe Dela Cruz as Vice President of Public Relations.

Marianas High School’s Blue Marianas Produxtions won the Best Product/Service award, while its member, Candice Aldan, received the Vice President of Finance award.

Mount Carmel High School’s Knighteens’ Justin Ocampo was awarded the Vice President of Marketing.

Whimsical Wonders’ president Mendoza, in an interview, said she feels that all of their hard work was all worthwhile in the end and that she is thankful for everyone that contributed to their success as a company and as individuals.

Mendoza said Whimsical Wonders is a company that seeks to strengthen bonds between families and friends and to cater to the demands of children around the world.

“So what we did was we made our product, Bu-bu Bubbles,” Mendoza said.

She said Bu-Bu Bubbles is a bubble-making kit that includes a paper bag filled with magical wand, specialized bubble solution and a container.

“So you can make big, gigantic bubbles with the use of our solution,” Mendoza said.

She said one their members got the idea of bubble-making after seeing an event at the American Memorial Park in which big bubbles attracted a lot of people.

Commonwealth Development Authority economic development analyst and Junior Achievement program coordinator Carline B. Sablan said the program is designed for high school students and that it’s now their fourth cycle after they started in the spring of 2012.

Sablan said it’s a 12-week program for high school students.

“They learned everything from capitalization of the business by selling stocks to product conceptualization, election of officers and directors, conceptualizing the product or service, packaging, pricing, everything, sale all the way through marketing,” she said.

Sablan said then in the end the students learned liquidating the company.

“And if the company was profitable, of course the shareholders get dividends,” she said.

Sablan said the students started the company and ended up liquidating the company.

“They also put together an annual report, video commercial. They had business presentations and interview,” she said.

Sablan said the presidents and vice presidents of the company were interviewed to determine the individual awards and the group awards.

She said this year they began with four students/companies, but they lost Kagman High School after the trade fair.

Sablan said Kagman High School had some challenges so they pulled out, but she is hoping to bring them on next year.

“Every year, every cycle it gets better. The competition is even greater. I’m very much happy to be part of this program and help coordinating it,” she said.

CDA executive director Manuel A. Sablan said he hopes the 12-week experience with the Junior Achievement Program has given participants some exposure and appreciation of the actual business world and business and financial acumen required to get into business if they choose to pursue that objective in the future.

“CDA would be honored to have you knock at our doors for financial assistance to start up your business or technical assistance you may need to set up one,” said Sablan in his closing remarks.

For Whimsical Wonders, Hyatt Regency Saipan’s Tyrell Pauling and Denise Montenegro and Pacifica Insurance Underwriters’ Gederryn Domingo and Sidney Quan served as business mentors. Jonathan Aguon and Karen Echon served as teacher mentors.

For Marianas High School’s Blue Marianas Produxtions, IT&E’s Velma Palacios, Veronica Acosta, Shirley Dotts, and Natasha Tomokane served as business mentors. Marizel Hiponia and Jeaniffer Cubangbang served as teacher mentors.

For Mount Carmel’s Knighteens, Tan Holdings’ Alex Sablan served as business mentor, while Luz Baldazo served as teacher mentor.

Best Sunshine Live sponsored the banquet. The gold sponsors were Tan Holdings, IT&E, Hyatt Regency, Bank of Hawaii, and Pacifica Insurance Underwriters Inc.

Saipan Chamber of Commerce was the silver sponsor, while the Northern Marianas College was the bronze sponsor.