Students compete for ideas at college

Staff report

Grove city, pa.

The Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Grove City College hosted its Fifth Annual Elevator Pitch Competition last month, featuring 76 students from 17 majors participating on 79 teams.

Teams were divided into social or commercial enterprise categories. Students, competing individually or as a team, had two minutes to pitch an idea to a panel of judges representing potential investors. Four prizes of $250 each were awarded in both categories, totaling $2,000 in prizes.

Winners of the competition in social enterprise included One Sonogram, senior Gret Glyer; His Creative Care, sophomore Zoe Simek; Ashes to Art, sophomore Molly Harrington; and Missions Giving, junior Ryan Herman.

Winners of the competition in commercial enterprise included Sand Chariot, sophomore Michael Trombly; Scuff Off Kits, sophomore Erika Lightholder; Brallets, freshman Brittany Schmitt; and Black Market Beats, sophomore Scott Inderbitzen.

Judges for the 2011 competition included professionals such as Mike Walton, CEO, Jamestown Coatings; Rex Knisley Sr., VP, First National Bank of Pennsylvania; Meredith Marburger, marketing director, Hovis Auto & Truck Supply; Dave Metzloff, Process Control Corp.; Tim Turrittin, managing principal, TNT Consulting; Karen Piccirilli, VP, business banking, PNC Bank; and Esther Falcetta, educational advocate, owner, Proficient Reader Resources.

Founded in 1876, Grove City College stands on its founding ideals of faith and freedom, made possible by an unwavering commitment to Christian principles and rigorous academics at a price within the reach of families with modest means.

The college, located 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, has an enrollment of 2,500 students and teaches liberal arts, sciences and engineering.

It is an advocate of the free-market economic system and accepts no federal funding.

Grove City College has been named the Top Value in Private Liberal-Arts Schools by Consumers Digest Magazine. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute has named the College one of 50 All-American Colleges, ranking it high for increasing students’ civic literacy. Grove City College has been named a Best Value and one of the best colleges in America by Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report. The Young America’s Foundation calls Grove City College one of the Top Conservative Schools in the country.