Six 11th-grade students from the Abraham Lincoln School in La Romana, part of the Central Romana Corporation, have achieved a remarkable second-place victory in the prestigious “Future Leaders” competition organized by Hult International Business School and the renowned fashion house Dolce & Gabbana. The contest challenged participants to develop an innovative product for the Italian luxury brand.
The competition drew an impressive 2,500 applicants from 518 schools across the globe, according to a press release issued by Central Romana.
Lisannely Pepén, Valeria León, Helen Herrera, Trishia Familia, April Martínez, and Samira Cantalejos, guided by their teacher and student counselor Ian Revis, took on the challenge of creating a product and designing its marketing campaign, keeping in mind the preferences of Generation Z, the demographic cohort born between 1997 and 2012.
In addition to the recognition of their creative talent, each student from the Abraham Lincoln School received a scholarship worth US$10,000 a year, valid at any of Hult’s university campuses located in Boston, London, Dubai, or San Francisco, California.
“This achievement reflects the level of preparation and training that we strive to offer our students,” said Harry Magee, director of the Abraham Lincoln School. “We are immensely proud of the performance of this particular group of young women and the impact their participation has had in this high-level competition, both as representatives of La Romana and for raising the bar for the country’s education sector.”
The criteria for the Dolce & Gabbana project included creating an attractive name and developing a unique product for the brand, analyzing consumer habits and youth market trends, designing a competitive pricing strategy, identifying the most effective distribution channels, and developing communication strategies.
The “Future Leaders” competitions provide a global platform for high school students to develop their skills in problem-solving and strategic thinking.
The Abraham Lincoln School is a bilingual educational institution established by Central Romana in 1917 for the children of its employees and workers, whose students enter at the preschool age and continue through to complete their high school education.
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El Nacional
5 February 2025