Four Babylon Junior-Senior High School students and their advisor traveled to Manhattan on April 22 to compete in the National Marketing Competition at the Virtual Enterprise Youth Business Summit, held at the Javits Center in New York City.

Students Katie Bellone, Saniya Bathija, Peyton Logue-Boyd, and Logan Montiglio, representing the Babylon VE firm Meat the Pickle, earned their place at the national competition after their team placed in the top three percent of all Virtual Enterprise firms nationwide during the preliminary rounds. Under the guidance of advisor Claire Reilly, the students delivered a professional presentation before a panel of judges and answered questions about their virtual business.

The Youth Business Summit is the flagship annual event of Virtual Enterprises International, drawing thousands of high school students from across the United States and around the world. The competition brings together student-run virtual firms that have advanced through regional and state-level contests to compete for top honors in categories including business plan presentation, marketing, finance, and trade show booth design.

The Babylon delegation was among hundreds of students competing at the event, which featured student teams presenting their business concepts, defending financial projections, and engaging in professional sales pitches before volunteer judges drawn from the business community.

Meat the Pickle, Babylon’s VE firm, has had strong showings throughout the 2025-2026 academic year. In January, the firm earned a Silver Award in the Trade Show Booth Presentation category at the New York/Long Island Virtual Enterprise Annual Business Plan Competition and Trade Show at Long Island University, where Meat the Pickle along with the school’s other firm, Pro-Fit, combined to earn more than $100,000 in virtual enterprise cash.

For more information about the Babylon Union Free School District, please visit the District’s website at www.babylon.k12.ny.us. Exciting activities happening throughout the District and programs celebrating student achievement can also be found on the District’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/babylonschooldistrict/ and Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/babylonufsd.