Youth Entrepreneur Places in National Pitch Competition

 

A local youth entrepreneur recently received Honorable Mention in a National Pitch Competition, where she competed alongside over 260 other high school-aged entrepreneurs for a share of $4,000 in cash prizes. 

 

Hallie Ray, from Illini West High School and a participant of the Hancock County CEO (Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities) program, made an official submission to the 2022 National Pitch Competition, alongside seven other local Hancock County CEO Students. 

 

The other submissions from the Hancock County CEO Program were made by CEO Participants Yoanny Espinoza from Illini West High School for her business, Dulce Drinks; Bradyn Robertson from Illini West High School for his business, Mint Condition Detailing; Jake Knorr from Southeastern High School for his business, Unleashed Puppy Perfume; Cole Kirkham from Illini West High School for his business, Off the Hanger; Abbey McMillan from Southeastern High School for her business, Tee’s To Inspire; Ava Blankenship from Illini West High School for her business, Relics Resin; and Kyle Kindhart from Southeastern High School for his business, Kindhart Woodworking. 

 

Ray has been working alongside her fellow CEO Participants all year to ideate and create her business, Makes Scents, which produces customized air fresheners for vehicles.

 

With this award, Ray receives $50 in cash prizes that can be invested back into her business as well as a collection of resources to support her in her entrepreneurial journey. 

 

The CEO program is an accredited entrepreneurship education course available to Juniors and Seniors from all Hancock County high schools as well as home-schooled students. The class is never held in school, rather, participants meet five days a week for 90 minutes in local businesses. Even so, participants do receive high school credit for the program as well as dual credit through Carl Sandburg College.

 

Funding for the nonprofit program comes from financial pledges from local businesses, individuals, and group community investors.

 

Throughout the school year, the CEO program takes students out of the classroom and into local businesses allowing them to meet with community leaders, exposing them to over one hundred guest speakers, and providing them with mentors who coach them through the process of starting and running a business. 

 

Each student leaves the program having created two businesses - a class business, a collaborative effort among all current participants which takes place in the first half of the year, and an individual business, which participants focus on developing during the second semester of the course. 

 

To celebrate these individual businesses, the provider of the CEO program nationwide, the Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship, hosts an annual National Pitch competition for all CEO participants in the 62 CEO Programs that exist across the country. 

 

The National Pitch Competition is an opportunity for CEO participants to share their individual businesses on a national platform and compete for cash prizes that can be invested back into their business concepts.

 

In the 2022 National Pitch Competition, Ray shared her business through a recorded 30-second video, which was taken in one continuous shot and then uploaded to a secure platform for judging. 

 

Submissions for the competition were reviewed by a community of over 70 CEO stakeholders from across the country comprised of CEO board members, CEO Alumni, local business owners, and mentors. 

 

The scores that the pitches received from these individuals helped rank the top thirty pitches. 

 

The final winners were then selected from these top thirty by a panel of three high-level judges who have seen incredible success in their own entrepreneurial endeavors: Wilbur You, Founder and CEO of YouTech, Joan Pacetti, CEO of The Cookie Dough Cafe, and Dan Chancellor, Founder and CEO of So ILL. 

 

The top pitches were announced on a live webinar on April 13, 2022, during which these high-level judges awarded the winners and provided comments and expert advice to students on pursuing their entrepreneurial path forward. 

 

Austin Brooks, Executive Director of the Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship says of the competition, “The national pitch competition reflects the hard work that these youth entrepreneurs have put into the conceptualization and creation of their businesses throughout the year. 

 

Some of these students will take their business beyond the program, others will take the skills they learned into another business and be outstanding intrapreneurs, but all of them have gained valuable life and business experience by creating these businesses and learning how to communicate them effectively through their pitches.”