In March of 2020, high school senior Buddy Leong went on spring break only to never return to school in-person. Forced into virtual studies by the COVID-19 pandemic, he was left with a new virtual education schedule that was less-demanding and provided more free time.

Most high school students would have used the extra time to catch up on their sleep, hit the beach, or hang out with their friends but not Leong. He immediately began assisting Hawai‘i’s Deputy Director of Health Cathy Ross in sourcing personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies for medical professionals across the islands. He then helped found Team Save Hawaii Jobs and Businesses, a group formed at the onset of the pandemic that provides free financial information to local businesses on the CARES act’s Paycheck Protection Program—learning first-hand how to set up and operate Zoom webinars.

As the school year progressed, Leong became dissatisfied with the quality of his virtual education, with some of his courses meeting once a week for less than half an hour. Eager to learn and grow, he tried to think of ways he could use his background in entrepreneurship and business to start up something of his own. Many may wonder what kind of entrepreneurship experience an eighteen-year-old like Leong could have, and the answer is…a lot. At age thirteen Leong took second place worldwide with his siblings in a Global Startup Battle business competition, by fourteen he had already been selected as a finalist for HVCA’s Entrepreneur of the Year award, and he just recently started running a webinar consulting business.

Leong utilized his entrepreneurial experience, professional connections, and newfound knowledge of webinars to create a free virtual educational platform for students to network and learn from professionals in a variety of fields. Virtual Student Experiences, or VSE, provides students with skills, advice, and knowledge from industry professionals on how to get into and be successful within whatever industry they’re considering. VSE has already hosted a range of professionals, from Scott Koo, Corporate Executive Vice President at SAMSUNG SDS to Mehul Smriti Raje, Software Engineer at Google. Leong has big aspirations for the organization and hopes to expand VSE across Hawai‘i and even to Universities across the country. Find out more about Leong and VSE at their website www.virtualstudentexperiences.com.