On Tuesday, student entrepreneurs took to the stage to present their business plans before a panel of local leaders of industry and a public audience. Ten students in 12th grade representing five businesses and social movements from the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce Young Entrepreneurs Academy Chapter at Tippecanoe Valley High School had five minutes to pitch their business plans to prominent local members of the business community during the program’s annual YEA! Investor Panel Event, according to a press release from the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce. Based on the appeal and merit of the students’ plans and presentations, representatives from companies like Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Paragon Medical, Elevate Ventures, Grace College & Seminary and Maple Leaf Farms determined the amount of funds to allocate to each business or social movement. Participating businesses received the following: Golden Meat, Karis Tucker, $680; I am, Emily Shepherd and Monica Hatfield, $450; Savage Tees, Kaitlyn Ott, Andrew Harlan, Kim Jurado and Kaitlyn Engholm, $220; and Novel Necklaces and Brynda Krueger, $150. The participating investors also selected Golden Meat for an additional prize. Tucker will advance to the Young Entrepreneurs Academy Saunders Scholars National College Scholarship competition, where she will compete for hundreds of thousands of dollars in college scholarships, a fast-track application pass to apply to be on ABC’s “Shark Tank,” and an all-expenses paid trip to attend America’s Small Business Summit in Washington, D.C., courtesy of the United States Chamber of Commerce, according to the release. The investor panel comprised of local business people, including: Monica Kendrick, Zimmer Biomet, vice president of corporate communications; Jeff Dryer, Paragon Medical, process improvement engineer; Jeff Hodgson, Elevate Ventures; Dr. Jeff Fawcett, Grace College & Seminary, dean of Business School; Niki Miller, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, office administrator; Trevor Ross, 1st Source Bank, trust administrator; John Tucker, Maple Leaf Farms, co-president; Missy Reese, Claypool Elementary, principal; Rita Price Simpson, WRSW Radio broadcaster, and George Brennan, Lake City Group, president & CEO. The Young Entrepreneurs Academy is a year-long class that transforms middle and high school students into real, confident entrepreneurs, the release states. Throughout the class, students develop business ideas, write business plans, conduct market research, pitch their plans to a panel of investors, and actually launch and run their own real, legal, fully formed companies and social movements. Founded in 2004 at the University of Rochester with support from the Kauffman Foundation, the Young Entrepreneurs Academy today serves thousands of students in communities across America. For more information about the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, call 585-272-3535 or visit www.yeausa.org
