Leah McGrath, a Year 13 student at Palmerston North Girls' High attended the Young Enterprise Trust's annual Enterprise in Action event at Massey University in Auckland earlier this month.

The competition saw 80 students work on two team challenges testing their business skills over two days before the finalists faced off in an individual challenge.

McGrath was one of six secondary school students who took part chosen for a trip to San Francisco to visit some of the world's leading companies in September.

"I was in complete shock when they called my name out. I didn't even expect to be nominated for the individual challenge, let alone win," McGrath said.

The final challenge saw 20 students, voted on by their peers, put in a room with no devices and given 10 minutes to individually develop a pitch on how a tourism operator could counter falling British tourist caused by the weakening pound in the aftermath of Brexit.

They then had two minutes to deliver the pitch to a panel of seven judges, and faced another two minutes of questions on their strategy.

McGrath said she felt so overwhelmed and tired she was almost ready to cry as she waited to face the panel.

"I was so nervous, I'm not a very confident public speaker [and] all the other kids were so out there and confident."

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