It’s not easy being chief executive officer of a virtual company when the work required is very real. But it was worth every day and night spent brainstorming to create and deliver an anti-bullying campaign that blew away 15 other competitors to take first prize from the Advertising Club of New York. “First we were a little intimidated,” says Alyssa Franchi, a senior in the career and technical education class at Susan E. Wagner HS on Staten Island and CEO of her group’s firm, Virtual Enterprises. “The tears, excitement, stress, lots of tears, lots of stress, then came happy tears!” The five seniors, from CTE teacher Rachael Monaco’s class, had just three weeks to produce and present a campaign to the Ad Council, which paired the students in each of the 16 schools with a professional advertising agency. The Virtual Enterprises team members worked holidays, weekends and every minute they could squeeze from their senior schedules. “They were treated like gold by their ad agency group, like they were fellow professionals,” Monaco says. “I’ve got tears in my eyes now, I’m so proud of them.” For their “I Am A Witness” campaign, they reached back to middle school where they all had experienced bullying or knew someone who had been humiliated or intimidated. “We realized we were bullied, or we helped others who were bullied,” says Alyssa. “It made us feel like a human hero to help. You don’t have to be a superhero to make a difference.” Thanks to senior Kristen Emery, a whiz with a needle and thread, all five will be wearing a Human Hero cape emblazoned with an “I Am A Witness” eye emoji when they accept their trophy at the Advertising Club on Nov. 18.