A Summer of Commenting Leads to Meaningful Connections

It felt appropriate that Wharton Global Youth decided this year to end its 2025 Comment and Win Competition with the annual “Making Connections” theme.

We spent the summer – from June 16 to August 15 – reading more than 900 reflective comments on Wharton Global Youth educational content from high school students around the world. Crescendoing to comments in Round 3 (July 28 to August 15) that conveyed business and personal connections through storytelling, closed out this year’s competition with strength and style.

‘Psychology and Resilience’

As Wharton professor Lori Rosenkopf said while talking about her new book Unstoppable Entrepreneurs: “I’ve come to understand how many more people are compelled by a story than an aggregated statistic. With stories, we don’t only have the steps that [entrepreneurs] took, but we have all of the psychology and resilience.”

BTW, students dropped 20 comments on Dr. Rosenkopf’s Wharton Global Youth interview throughout the summer. The final Rosenkopf reflection posted at 11:41 p.m. on August 15 by Maxwell L. highlighted a persistent Round 3 theme — comments from students who also attended Wharton Global Youth programs this summer, drawing links to their learning.

From Maxwell, a Leadership in the Business World attendee and aspiring social entrepreneur: “Wharton isn’t just a business school, it’s a lab and the perfect place of confluence for everyday innovators who transform friction into traction.” Other program-inspired commenters included Minseop K., an Essentials of Finance student from Korea, and Leadership in the Business World’s Ashlyn L. from New York.  Samuel L., we loved your celebration of your new Essentials of Finance connection!

Sour Spaghetti Gummies

That said, the Comment & Win competition, a centerpiece of Wharton Global Youth summers for eight years, has remarkable reach among students – beyond Wharton Global Youth programs and across continents and cultures. The top four Round 2, 2025 commenters represented three countries. And Round 1 revealed hundreds of cultural comments.

In the past few years, commenters represented more than 90 different countries, led by the U.S., India, Canada, South Korea, China, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and Singapore, with comments appearing from Zambia, Kuwait, El Salvador, Namibia, Croatia, Tonga and Uzbekistan, to name a few. That has led to so much diverse and compelling insight! In Round 3 alone, we read personal stories about health care in Bulgaria, DingDong agriculture markets in China and India’s Teej Ghewar season, to Haribo sour spaghetti gummies and Peppa Pig on composting.

We were impressed by your storytelling, often integrating connections to parents and grandparents, and appreciated how experiences inspired innovation because, as Audrey K. pointed out, “The most meaningful ideas often come from deeply personal places.” Shoutout to both Henry H. and Austin L. for your clever, family-focused comments on strategic thinking.

Storytelling Superstars

While you left us laboring to select our Round 3, 2025 winners, we ultimately chose five storytelling superstars (in no particular order), who commented with intention, clear connection, and business savvy.

Triet P., of the Webb Schools in California., U.S. (and also an Essentials of Finance student), offered food for thought in his comment about how social media influencers hold great power in his home city of Hanoi. His observations of restaurant influencers and their language, tied simply back to the text, gave us a unique glimpse into an interesting aspect of marketing in Vietnam, textured with crunchy vermicelli.

Kathy Z., from Hunter College High School in New York City, U.S., dropped an insightful and intriguing comment about malls and shopping districts around the globe that she believes are “unique enough to perhaps rise beyond technology’s pull on humans” in an age where e-commerce is disrupting commercial real estate. Her comment reflected unique personal connections to commercial real estate, with thoughtful allusions to the article.

Daniel R., from Brookline High School in Massachusetts, U.S., had us at aging leather seats and carburetor solvent with his well-written comment about his summer internship with a local auto museum. He drew parallels to the article text, while also adding valuable detail about how dream internships are proof that “passion scales when proximity meets perseverance.” Good luck with your career in automotive entrepreneurship!

Fatima D., from Munster High School in Indiana, U.S., delivered her comment connection about intergenerational technology challenges and triumphs with grace and humor. We appreciated Fatima’s playful tone, woven with an understanding of tech gaps and bridges in a Dad exchange that embraced the power of both history and progress.

Albert F., of Los Osos High School in California, U.S., gave us a telling take on crypto marketplaces through the lens of his experiences. His comment was responsive and practical, without straying into the long narrative territory that was all too common in Round 3. We felt the easy give and take of comment to content, with a unique perspective that could only come from a summer on the blockchain.

And with that, we close out Round 3, 2025. Our winners will receive e-books from Wharton School Press.

The 2025 Grand Prize

It’s time to announce this year’s Grand Prize winner – in this case, winners. We’ve decided that in a year of epic commenting, we can’t choose just one winner from among the many commenters who participated in all three rounds of the 2025 Comment and Win competition.

Congratulations to this year’s co-winners, Yijia C., 16 and a student at Nanjing Foreign Language School in China, and Hrithik M., 15 and a student at Brighton College Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

Those names should sound familiar to our Comment & Win community. Both Yijia and Hrithik scored top honors and were celebrated in Round 1 and Round 2 of this year’s competition. They also dropped excellent comments in Round 3 – Yijia making “meta” connections to her Wharton Moneyball Academy experience this summer, and Hrithik expressing his unique perspective on topics like the future of tech and merging innovation with impact.

Beginning with her first comment on June 17 at 8:42 p.m. EDT, Yijia went on to post a total of seven comments over three rounds — including a top comment in Round 1. Her commenting style was pure, concise, relatable, and charming throughout.

Hrithik first commented on June 19 at 2:13 p.m. EDT and proceeded to comment a total of 28 times during the competition – including a top comment in Round 2. Hrithik embraced the tech mindset in all things, while still commenting with clarity and conviction on a variety of topics.

Our co-winners’ commenting tones were quite different, but their quality was consistent. They were clearly inspired to think critically about how Global Youth content merged with their own experiences to deepen their understanding of business and life. Great job to both of you.

That’s a wrap on the Wharton Global Youth 2025 Comment and Win competition! We are grateful for your digital DNA in every comment and leave this summer in the rearview with a deeper understanding of high school students’ hearts and minds – and a lots of worldly trends and issues.

We are going to miss our 2025 commenters! Your insightful and powerful voices were a special kind of summer sustenance for the Wharton Global Youth community. Continue to flex your critical thinking, conversations and curiosity as you grow into remarkable business leaders.