A group of entrepreneurial Salina students earned cash awards this week at a competition.

The Salina Area Chamber of Commerce, in association with the NetWork Kansas E-Community Partnership, hosted the tenth annual USD 305 Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge on Tuesday, March 4th at Salina Area Technical College in Salina, KS.

According to the Chamber, 20 individuals and teams representing Salina South High School and Salina Central High School presented their business concepts with an executive summary, a formal presentation to judges, and a tradeshow display.
.
The winning concepts were:

• 1st Prize $500: Marshall Zuccarelli, M1 Pool Maintenance
• 2nd Prize $350: Grady Smith, DebateDock
• 3rd Prize $200: Liam Deniau-Young, Tymbersmith
• 4th Prize $100: Hala Nairat, Hala’s Delights
• 5th Prize $50: Alibbea Mong, Libby’s Cookies

People’s Choice Award $25 Smoky Hill Silver:

• Dawson Green, Bio Breeze
• Alibbea Mong, Libby’s Cookies
• Makayla Halferty, Lifestyle Dance

Winning students received $1,275 in prize money courtesy of NetWork KS.

“The Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge is truly my favorite day of the year. It is so much fun
interacting with the students and hearing them pitch their creative ideas. Thinking like an
entrepreneur helps students become more confident in their abilities to make decisions, take risks,
and bounce back from failure. They may also develop a passion that could change the trajectory of
their life,” said host, Jaclyn Crow, Economic and Workforce Development Director at the Salina Area
Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to prizes and recognition, the first-place finisher has the opportunity to compete in the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge (KEC) at Kansas State University in Manhattan. This event will include the top young entrepreneurs from schools across the state and is hosted in partnership with NetWork Kansas, K-State Research and Extension, and K-State Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship.

The goal of the competition is to expose Kansas middle school and high school students to entrepreneurship and give them hands-on experience. The students’ work is judged by local entrepreneurs, public sector partners, teachers, or other adults.

_ _ _

Photos via Salina Area Chamber of Commerce. Click to enlarge.