Young entrepreneurs had a chance to pitch for very real funding at Shawnee Mission School District’s “The Next Great Idea Pitch Competition” held on April 27th. The three winners each received a $1,000 prize and are also eligible to receive an additional $1,500 in grants over the next year. To fund their ideas.
The competition, which began in 2021, is part of the district’s annual research and development forum. Approximately 30 students applied for the competition this year, with nine finalists advancing to Saturday’s Big Pitch. Any student within the district is eligible to compete.
Because students don’t necessarily have experience in entrepreneurship or pitching ideas, the program works with Startland, a nonprofit organization inspired by “starters”: innovators, creators, and entrepreneurs. Courtesy of our partnership with the school district, we have access to mentorship from local businessmen.
Students were able to participate in as many of the three virtual practice sessions as they liked. Each final pitch lasted her three minutes, followed by her two-minute question period with the judges.
“It was really fun to watch because some of the students came to every practice session, really listened, and between each practice session they took the feedback they received and tweaked their presentations and ideas. or to further develop it,” Lee said. said Ann Neal, director of early childhood education and sustainability for the district. “You can really see the growth between sessions.”
Startland has also put together a coaching guide with resources on how to structure your pitch.
Veronica Alvidrez, Director of Youth and Community Programs at Startland Education, said: “We essentially connect school competitions to entrepreneurs and community partners, and we bring that experience to life for students. We can make it feel like something that belongs to us.”
For the past two years, the contest has attracted primarily elementary school-aged applicants.
“I really enjoy that it’s a K-12 competition,” Alvidres said. “This allows young minds to participate in this process, often brought in at the middle school or high school level. The way they react really shows that innovation has no age limit.”
This year, the situation has reversed, with an increase in applications from middle and high school students. Shawnee Mission East’s marketing class helped create informational materials to promote the contest.
For winner Audrey Jennings, a sophomore at Shawnee Mission West University, winning the award is an opportunity to fund a project she had been working on before learning about the contest. Her entry, “The Dot Spot,” focuses on creating about seven free, regularly supplied pantries housed in lockers throughout the school.
Currently, the school is offering free, limited-time products, but Audrey said they only have two locations and don’t offer the variety of items students need for different body types. She connected with her school’s Women’s Leadership Club and began developing her ideas.
It was all in the works when she learned about the contest, the day before the entry deadline.
“We had plans to build a saline station, and then this story came along and we thought, ‘What a great idea to start funding this,'” she said.
Audrey attended two of the practice sessions offered and a run-through.
“It taught me how to be a speaker. They told me, ‘Slow down.’ Be sure to incorporate these key points. Because this is what people want. ” she said.
Another winner, Miles Muhlbach, a seventh-grader from Indian Hills, decided to put his programming skills to work on his own project. This game was intended to enrich other children’s mathematics learning.
“I always thought these[computer]programs in school weren’t really fun, and I thought, ‘What if kids could get the interactive learning they need, but do it in a fun, interactive way? ”I thought, “Is it?” he said.
Ultimately, I would like to create different levels for each unit of math class. The whole process was a learning experience for him.
“I definitely learned how to speak in front of a large crowd, and I learned how to pitch well,” Miles said.
Benjamin Walsh, a seventh-grader at Indian Hills Middle School, also won a major award in addition to the People’s Choice Award, which was determined by online voting. His project was an armband to keep a continuous blood sugar monitor connected during sports.
Laila Speicher, also a seventh-grader at Indian Hills, won the $500 Idea of Promise award for pitching a browser extension that provides positive affirmations during work.
