Vladan Napijalo and Evan Gilbert had one week to form the partnership that would win the 2026 Junior Achievement Titan championship for southern Maine.

The Westbrook Regional Vocational Center students took the title in the simulated business-building competition — and are heading to the nationals in Boston in June — with a winning combination of grit, skill and trust in each other’s talents.

“We work well together,” said Napijalo, 18, a senior at Portland High School. “We push each other out of our comfort zones and we trust each other.”

Napijalo and Gilbert are among nearly 400 students from 34 high schools across Maine who participated in this year’s JA Titan Challenge. Nearly 170 business mentors helped to prepare and support 149 teams who engaged in the fast-paced online competition in real time.

Working on laptops, the students acted as CEOs of a cellphone startup — developing a product, conducting market research, establishing a production line and setting a price that hopefully would sell.

“You don’t want to set it too low because no one will want to buy it because they think it’s too cheap and your profit margin will be too low,” Napijalo said. “You don’t want to set it too high because people will think it’s too expensive and you’ll be left with unsold inventory.”

“It’s about finding a balance,” said Gilbert, 17, a junior at Bonny Eagle High School in Standish. “It’s just like in real life.”

Typically, teams start with a budget of $1 million to $2 million, Gilbert said.

“You think it’s a lot, but to build a new lab it’s $400,000, to build a new marketing branch is $300,000 and to build a new factory is $500,000, so the money starts going away pretty quickly,” he said.

Throughout several quarters or rounds, the teams must adjust their business strategy and adapt to shifting market conditions. They may hire more workers, add features to their phones or build a new facility. In the end, the winning team has the most coins, representing categories such as production, research and development and corporate social responsibility.

Napijalo and Gilbert won 83 of 88 possible coins, falling a bit short on R&D, they said.

STATEWIDE COMPETITION

Junior Achievement of Maine was founded in 1965 and started at Portland High School. Today, its various programs reach about 15,000 students annually statewide.

This year’s Titan Challenge for schools in northern Maine took place March 31, with teams hosted at Thomas College in Waterville, Bangor Savings Bank in Bangor, Machias Savings Bank in Machias and University of Maine at Presque Isle.

A team from Caribou High School, made up of Matthew Nonken and Brayden Caldwell, and mentored by Malachai Willey from United Insurance, won the northern challenge and will represent that region at the nationals at Boston University June 7-11.

For schools in southern Maine, the challenge took place April 2. Teams gathered at Tyler Technologies in Yarmouth, Idexx in Westbrook, Systems Engineering in Portland, Dead River Company in Scarborough and University of New England in Biddeford.

Napijalo and Gilbert were mentored at the competition by Jenna Jeffrey and Seneca Raymond of Clark Insurance. Danielle Rosenhek, a business operations specialist at Idexx, was the classroom mentor who prepared the business students at Westbrook Regional Vocational Center for several weeks in advance.

“(Napijalo and Gilbert) caught on very quickly and were asking advanced questions about business strategies,” Rosenhek said. “They were committed to learning the program and doing it well.”

Rosenhek and the winning team credited their teacher, Jana Boody-Billings, with creating a classroom environment where students want to succeed. She returned praise.

“Evan and Vlad show great potential as entrepreneurs,” Boody-Billings said. “They are willing to do the research needed to understand the complex situations presented to them, but they also trust their instincts when making decisions.”

Members of the winning teams each won a $750 scholarship in the state competition. Napijalo plans to study business at Central Maine Community College in Auburn, then transfer to the University of Maine in Orono. Gilbert also plans to study business.

“Their foundation of teamwork, curiosity and initiative will serve them well in their future business careers,” Boody-Billings said.