Participants in LAUNCH CHA’s High School Entrepreurship program gather at The Granfalloon for “Pitch It,” the district-wide competition in which students’ business ideas are judged for a chance to win prizes such as Chromebooks and tablets to further their education.They may not have graduated high school yet, but scores of local high school students now have viable ideas for launching their own businesses thanks to LAUNCH CHA’s High School Entrepreneurship Program.
Participants in the semester-long program held at Tyner Academy and East Ridge and Central high schools this fall gathered at The Granfalloon earlier this month for Pitch It, the program’s district-wide youth entrepreneurship competition. With the help of LAUNCH CHA facilitators and mentors, participating students worked in small groups over the past several months to develop a business idea, craft a plan for their business, and create a prototype of the product, if applicable.
For Pitch It, teams from the program pitched their business ideas before a panel of judges from the local business community: Lakweshia Ewing, CEO of Unlearn Everything and Live; Aaron Welch, CEO of Woorly; Rebecca Feldbin, public relations and marketing specialist at The Bex Co.; and Tucker McClendon, manager of The Chattanooga Market and a Hamilton County school board representative.
Teams were judged on the clarity of their statements concerning the problem their business addresses and how their business solves that problem, their understanding of the startup costs and other financial aspects of the business, and the creativity of their pitch.
A group from Tyner placed third for a product they called Essentials, an all-natural, handcrafted flaxseed gel for all types of hair.