2024 𝓔𝓓𝓦𝓐𝓡𝓓𝓢𝓥𝓘𝓛𝓛𝓔 𝓒𝓔𝓞 𝓕𝓘𝓢𝓗 𝓣𝓐𝓝𝓚 – 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽’𝓼 𝓪 𝔀𝓻𝓪𝓹!
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Since August, CEO students have been developing an individual business venture, a side hustle that they could launch during their senior year of high school. This morning, each of our students presented a 3-minute pitch deck to an incredible panel of community judges. Not only did they demonstrate business knowledge of their problem, solution, customers, target market, competitive advantages, potential value, and potential prize use…they endured a 2-minute Q & A session with our “sharks” and absolutely NAILED IT!
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We are thrilled to announce the top candidates scored by our judges…drum roll please…
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1𝓢𝓣 𝓟𝓛𝓐𝓒𝓔 ($300)
🥇Drew Villhard | Bio Baits | Father McGivney Catholic High School

2𝓝𝓓 𝓟𝓛𝓐𝓒𝓔 ($100) 3-𝐖𝐀𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐄!
🥈Haley Onwiler | Campus Charm | Edwardsville High School
🥈Kelsey Renth | K-1 Energy | Edwardsville High School
🥈Luke Welser | Off Road Plates | Father McGivney Catholic High School
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This year, we had several additional categories to spotlight incredible presentations. Congratulations to the students below for being awarded the following categories by their judges and peers:

🏅#𝑯𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆 | Caden Sexton | FlipScale Properties, LLC (EHS)
🏅#𝑴𝒐𝒔𝒕𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒍𝒚𝑻𝒐𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆 | Lucas Cecil & Noah Foley | Minty Cola Exchange (EHS)
🏅 #𝑯𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕𝑬𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚&𝑪𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒚 | Mia Plegge | MOCKD (EHS)
🏅#𝑪𝑬𝑶𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅 (Peer elected!) | Sanaa Johnson | Uptown Pearlz (EHS)
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𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒:
This event would not have been possible without our incredible panel of judges:

👏 Adam Walters |President/CEO BloxByte Games | Edwardsville CEO Class of 2019!!!
👏 Matt McSparin | President/CEO | Edison's Entertainment Complex
👏 Jennifer Hughey | CEO | Goshen Coffee Company
👏 Jo Ann Di Maggio May | Director | Jo Ann May SIUE SBDC
👏 Matt Pfund | Owner | Pfund Construction
👏 Senator Jason Plummer | IL State Senator & VP of R.P. Lumber Company
👏 Steve Cooper | Division President | First Mid Bank & Trust
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A big thank you to the SIUE School of Business and SBDC for sponsoring the event for the SIXTH year in a row!
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Hats off to our fantastic EMCEE, Marc Voegele it was a pleasure having you lead today's event!!
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A big THANK YOU to Matt McSparin & Edison's Entertainment Complex for providing our venue, food and drink!
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Finally, today's event would not have been possible without our Entrepreneurial Extraordinaire, Doug Villhard, for teaching students how to craft the “perfect pitch” and for all of his entrepreneurial advice! Doug, you have given these students an incredible gift!!
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To each of our young entrepreneurs...bravo. You've made your community proud! They've planned...they've pitched...get ready to watch them LAUNCH their businesses at our 2024 Edwardsville CEO Trade Show on Sunday, April 28th at The Ink House. Follow our FB and Instagram for event details to be posted soon!