Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Jaehyuk "Sean" Chung '18 is already working on becoming a leader in the business world.
Soon after starting the MIT Launch Club at WMA, Sean was selected as the organization's USA East Regional Director. He will host the club's regional event April 9, with 40 students from throughout the East Coast scheduled to compete in the entrepreneurial competition on campus.
"I came here because the school advertises itself as an entrepreneurship school," Sean said. "I think this will be a good opportunity for the school and myself."
Sean has now created two opportunities for students at the Academy. Along with initiating the MIT Launch Club at WMA, he also started DECA, which has a focus on various aspects of business. At the state DECA competition, Sean placed fourth in the Principles of Business Administration and Management category to advance to the International Career Development Conference in California April 26-29.
"When I was looking to start my own clubs and what I could do for extracurricular, my interest was in the line of business and entrepreneurship," Sean explained. "I started DECA, which is for business, and then I found the MIT Launch Club online. It's an organization students can go through for entrepreneurship to help with the experience."
For the competition at WMA, 10 teams will pitch their business ideas to five judges. The winner will advance to the organization's finale at MIT in late April.
As the regional director, Sean's responsibilities have included planning the event, addressing the needs of visiting schools and answering emails – lots and lot of emails.
"I think emails were the hardest," said Sean, whose team will include Daniel Voronin '17 and Georgii Chichua '18. "Writing emails and sending out emails and replying to all the emails that come from each school ... it was hard. Managing school work and this extracurricular work, that was challenging."