The Biz Foundry concludes this year’s Youth Entrepreneurship Program in local schools
COOKEVILLE –The Biz Foundry has just completed its fifth MyBigIdea! competition, naming several winning teams at a grand finale event. Over 400 students across the Upper Cumberland were involved in MyBigIdea! this fall alone. The competition seeks to promote and teach entrepreneurship among local middle and high school students.
The following schools participated this year:
- Putnam County: Cookeville High School, Avery Trace Middle School, White Plains Academy, Monterey High School, Prescott South Middle School
- Warren County: Covenant Academy, Warren County High School
- White County: White County High School, White County Middle School
- Dickson County: Dickson County High School
- Morgan County: Morgan County Vocational Center
- Fentress County: York Institute High School
- Van Buren County: Van Buren County High School
First Tennessee National Bank provided program support and prize money for the participants through a First Tennessee Development Community Grant.
Judges for this year’s finale event were Amber Flynn Jared, Michael Aikens, Stephen Crook and Tiffani Fitzgerald.
The overall winner, taking home a $1000 prize courtesy of First National Bank, was Nathan George of Avery Trace Middle School. George came up with the idea for solar powered backup battery for electric cars, which he called “Porta Charge.”
First place winner for the middle school division was Avery Elliot of Avery Trace Middle School with his backpack that converts to a sleeping bag for hikers.
“Team TEDD” of Covenant Academy took home second place overall, with their automatic transmission bicycle without gears. Team TEDD members included Terry Hines, Ethan Hillis, and David Netherton.
“Team BeKind” of Covenant Academy won third place overall with their idea for a mobile phone app to promote acts of kindness. Members of Team BeKind were Morgan Benkarski, Emma Grace Madewell, Dalton Burks, and Anuja Patel.
The Biz Foundry will return with MyBigIdea! in area schools throughout the 2019 year, with the finale taking place in November. Contact the Biz Foundry to learn more about sponsoring this event.
More about the Biz Foundry
TBF is an entrepreneur center and coworking space in Cookeville. They provide support for local entrepreneurs and business startups through in-house courses and workshops, mentorship programs, networking opportunities, and more. To learn about about TBF, sign up to receive updates and information about their events at www.thebizfoundry.org.
