Harvard High School business teacher helps usher in largest club on campus: ‘If you build it, they will come’

A business teacher at Harvard High School started a business competition club that after just a few months, has grown into the largest club on campus.

With some students already competing at state and national competitions, business teacher Nick Valenziano said there was a “hunger” for the program. And, despite the club getting a late start in the school year, it has already grown to include more than 50 students.

“We were shocked with a school of 800 to have that many kids interested,” he said. “If you build it, they will come, and it was absolutely true.”

The Business Professionals of America Club is centered around competition in a variety of fields, Valenziano said. Students compete in events centered on human resources, computer programming, finance, medical events and podcast production.

Soft skills also are a focus. One group of students from Harvard High School competed in a challenge centered around small-business management. That one involved making a presentation about a food truck business that was not profitable and how to turn it around.

Sophomore Payton Halfpenny is a member of the club and also in Valenziano’s business law class. She competed at the state competition in small team business management and human resources, with the latter sending her to nationals.

Halfpenny said Valenziano helped her explore the options of the business world. She described him as having “high energy,” and “always cracking jokes.” That is paired with a hands-on curriculum, which sees the students involved in the work, she said.

“He always tries to figure out a way to connect the lesson to his students,” she said. “He has us do a lot of team and partner activities, which I know a lot of kids shy away from. But he has a way of pumping us all up.”

Principal Carl Hobbs said Valenziano has a strong grasp of not only teaching a subject, but understanding how to teach it so students can use it in the real world.

“It’s one thing to teach a subject, but it’s another thing to teach kids how they can apply it,” Hobbs said.

Involving the community is another place Valenziano excels, Hobbs said. Some district officials, both staff and school board members, have expressed an interest in helping students with their projects or competitions.

“Nick understands the program has real-world implications,” Hobbs said. “He understands our community is a great resource, and we just have to tap it.”

Valenziano graduated from McHenry High School and took part in the business club there. He also took a couple years of high school accounting, which set the stage for his pursuits.

He went on to major in finance at Marquette University in Milwaukee. After he graduated, he worked in the field for a while, but through an old accounting teacher from high school, he was encouraged to pursue teaching.

“We would go out and grab lunch, and [he] said I’d be really good at teaching,” Valenziano said. “He told me to think about it.”

The following year, he enrolled in a master’s program for business education.

Fifteen years later, Valenziano said teaching is what gets him up in the morning. The ability to give the students an opportunity and see them compete is what he’s passionate about.

“I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said. “There’s just something different about this job.”