Submitted
Grow Hays hosted the Ellis County YEC, or Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, Wednesday, March 11th at BriefSpace in downtown Hays. YEC is a competition with a goal of teaching middle and high school students about entrepreneurship. The local competition consisted of students submitting a written executive summary (written business plan, a tradeshow booth and 4-minute presentation.
Silas Hibbs, Hays High Business Education teacher, had 24 students enter the competition with a total of 18 businesses.
1st Place ($700) - Shelbe Alexander with Holiday Impressions
2nd Place ($300) - Tanner Werth with Online Cattle
3rd Place ($200) - Anna Brull with Brull Doughzer
Local businesses awarded the following $200 prizes:
Midwest Energy’s Best Trade Show - Remy Stull with RMS Protein
Sunflower Electric’s People’s Choice - MacKenzie Cunningham with Herbal Farm Stand
Nex-Generations’ Ready To Launch - Shelbe Alexander with Holiday Impressions
Judges for the event were Network Kansas’ Ciera Thyfault , Next Home Realty’s Owen Frieberger and Tree Top Security's Dallas Haselhorst. Melissa Walburn, FHSU Interim Dean of Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship, also reviewed and scored the student’s written executive summaries.
The annual YEC series culminates in a statewide championship (KEC) where the top students from each local competition face off against each other for prize money and other honors. First place winner Shelby Alexander automatically qualifies for the statewide championship set for April 28th 2020 at Kansas State University.
The Ellis County event is part of the 2019-2020 Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge (YEC) Series thanks to support from NetWork Kansas & the E-Community Partnership, the Kansas State University Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship, and the Kansas Masons, and is to promote entrepreneurship and small business development in Kansas. The local competition is also made possible via The Robert E. Schmidt Foundation. The competition is for student created, managed, and owned ventures.
For more information on the Youth Entrepreneur Competition, contact Grow Hays Executive Director Doug Willams at 785.628.3102 or [email protected].
