Last Saturday was the culmination of a great deal of hard work, preparation, and innovation for teams of high schoolers in Lenawee and Jackson Counties, as they pitched the business concepts, they had been working on for the past 6 weeks for the opportunity to win cash prizes. The event, entitled Launch, is the final stage in Junior Achievement’s CEO Challenge.
The CEO Challenge, made up of three stages: Spark, Ignite, and Launch, is intended to create enthusiasm among high schoolers around becoming an entrepreneur. It is designed to open students’ eyes to the possibility of someday starting their own business. Beginning in January with Spark, a one-day entrepreneurial summit, held annually at the LISD TECH Center, where participating students from Lenawee County High Schools hear from a panel of local entrepreneurs and participate in a structured activity where they create a fun business concept to pitch in a two-minute infomercial. Interested students then form teams and proceed to Ignite, a 6-week period where they are tasked with creating a real business concept that addresses a real need. During Launch, the final stage of the CEO Challenge, teams pitch their business concepts to a panel of judges made up of local entrepreneurs, business, and community leaders.
In this year’s Launch event, 13 teams pitched their business concepts for the opportunity to win cash prizes awarded to the first, second, and third-place winners. Also, teams could win awards for the most innovative idea or best presentation. Launch begins with 2 score-in rounds where teams pitch to two different panels of judges. The teams’ scores for each round are combined and the top 9 teams are entered into a bracketed head-to-head competition to determine the winners.
After much deliberation and careful consideration, the judges determined the order of the top three teams: In third place, was Digital Wisdom, created by a team from Northwest High School. This start-up was on a mission to work with senior homes and help the elderly gain greater access to the internet to connect with family and find information.
The second-place winner, a Team from Lumen Christi High School created 20-20-20 Vision. Their product protects computer workers from blue light, by creating a clock with built-in reminders to look away from one’s screen and look at objects in the distance for a set amount of time.
The grand prize winner consisted of learners from Jackson High School who invented Polar Pro and tackled the challenge of sports videographers’ Go-Pro batteries losing charge due to cold weather. They invented an insulating pack to keep the Go-Pro warm and help the batteries hold a charge.
There were a wide variety of unique ideas and many engaging pitches. We are pleased to have been a sponsor of this endeavor and look forward to its continued success.