Jefferson High's Business Academy shapes the future corporate leaders of America

TAMPA, Fla. — Kathy Mendieta is a teenage CEO.

The senior at Tampa's Jefferson High School took her student-created company, LingoTech, to New York City to compete in a Shark Tank-like competition.

Her company creates Lingo Lenses — translation smart glasses that not only ease language barriers but also help with slang and misunderstandings.

"In business, communication is so important," she said. "So to have something that makes it easier to communicate is perfect."

For Mendieta and her senior class, the trip to New York City for the "Youth Business Summit" was the grand finale to an amazing journey in Jefferson High's award-winning Business Academy, one of the best magnet programs dedicated to finance in Tampa Bay.

Led by teacher Evan Statman, the Business Academy sees "over 75 percent of students go on to major in business [in college]," he said. "These kids excel at creating their own businesses that solve a problem."

LingoTech might be fictional. (As is the class's other company, TirePlug, an environmentally sound airless car tire made of recycled plastic. No flats, no problem.)

But the real-world applications are legit.

The students create student-staffed companies, from HR to social media teams to CEOs. And then head to competitions to showcase all aspects of the entity.

Jefferson High's Business Academy senior class rolled through Florida competitions on the strength of LingoTech and TirePlug — dazzling judges with everything from marketing to product pitch.

They didn't win in NYC — the top choices get to pitch to actual investors — but they caused a big buzz.

After all, they've "invented" products you might very well see in the not-so-distant future.