Awards
Student-Created LMS Integration Wins Entrepreneurship Competition
The Entrepreneurship Education Network, a nonprofit organization focused on entrepreneurial education, has announced the winners of its Midwest Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Competition, an annual “Shark Tank”-style pitch event where local high school students compete for seed money to fund their innovative business ideas.
First place and a $1,500 prize went to Arianna Whitaker of Thornwood High School in Chicago, who developed DigiPlan, an app that integrates with learning management systems to gamify task completion and increase productivity. The app uses information from students’ courses and extracurricular activities to provide customized schedules with plans to reduce distractions and procrastination. As students complete tasks, they are awarded points that ultimately add up to rewards.
The other winners are as follows:
- 2nd place ($1,000): Raahi Pachbhai of the St. Louis Science Center, who donated to Lights On, a nonprofit charity that makes adaptive clothing and prosthetics for people with physical disabilities.
- 3rd place ($500 prize): Tywon Barber, Beloit Memorial High School, Wisconsin. Ty’s Tech Repair is an IT service shop that repairs computers, upgrades, replaces basic hardware and resolves software issues, allowing teen interns to gain hands-on experience under the tutelage of a lead technician.
- Fastpitch People’s Choice Winner ($250): Jaylin Metcalf, Thornwood High School;
- Runners-up ($100 each): Ay’ana Singleton of Cleveland Metropolitan Remote School and Sayana Scott of St. Louis Science Center.
The winner will compete as a finalist in the National Youth Entrepreneurship Competition in New York on October 10th.
“We are so proud of all of the young people who competed in the Midwest,” NFTE Midwest Executive Director Dr. Scott Nasatia said in a statement. “Not only are these young entrepreneurs generating innovative ideas to solve complex problems, but they are also incredibly passionate about improving their communities. We are so proud of them, their teachers and their families!”
For more information, visit the NFTE site.
About the Author
Leah Kelly is editor-in-chief of Campus Technology, THE Journal and Spaces4Learning. She can be contacted at [email protected].
