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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Canfield High School students Andrew Murphy and Justin Schneider (center) were named winners of the Best Presentation by judges Vicki McGee (left) and Jack Scott (right). The duo, also known as EZ Way, Inc., pitched their product, EZ Carrying Case, during Sherry Creighton’s Introduction to Business Course on Jan. 6.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.The Best Product winners of Canfield High School Shark Tank, pictured with judge Vicki McGee (far left) and judge Jack Scott (far right), were, from left, sophomore Ricky Havrilla, sophomore Richie Herrera and junior Spencer Woolley. The group, also known as Dingerz, Inc., pitched their product, D1 Thumb Guard, during Sherry Creighton’s Introduction to Business Course on Jan. 6.
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Neighbors | Abby Slanker.Canfield High School students pitching their product, The Cord Clipper, demonstrated their product during their Shark Tank presentation in Sherry Creighton’s Introduction to Business Course on Jan. 6.
By ABBY SLANKER
Canfield High School students in Sherry Creighton’s Introduction to Business courses were swimming with the sharks during their Shark Tank presentations on Jan. 6. The students had been learning about entrepreneurship through the Junior Achievement of Mahoning Valley JA Be Entrepreneurial program.
The JA Be Entrepreneurial program introduces students to the essential elements of a practical business plan and challenges them to start an entrepreneurial venture while still in high school. Students learned about advertising, competitive advantages, financing, marketing and product development with local business mentors teaching the Junior Achievement lessons.
This program was made possible through a grant to JA from The Burton D. Morgan Foundation. The Burton D. Morgan Foundation’s mission is to champion the entrepreneurial spirit with a vision of a free enterprise society that supports entrepreneurship and cultivates economically independent citizens who contribute to the improvement of their communities.
The groups of students presented their product ideas to a panel of judges from the business community, including Julie Michael Smith, Joseph Jeswald, Joseph F. Angelo, Vicki McGee, Gregg Warner, Camille Favre, Jack Scott and Dave Wilkeson.
Each group presented a Power Point presentation, which included such specifics as product description, product pricing/cost, target audience, need met by product, competitive advantage/competitors and a sketch of their product. The students also had a prototype of their product to show the judges. Each student was responsible for a part of the presentation and demonstration of their product. Several groups also came up with a name for their business. Each group also had a tagline to close their presentation.
The students pitched such products as the D1 Thumb Guard, Pooch Pillow, EZ Carrying Case, The Cozy Blazer, The Cord Clipper, Pretzel Dipperz and All Together.
The D1 Thumb Guard, created by Dingerz, Inc., was designed to minimize the pain in the thumb of a baseball or softball player caused by the bat when hitting, while the Pooch Pillow, created by PSI Industries, was designed to relieve anxiety and provide comfort to arthritic dogs. EZ Way, Inc., designed the EZ Carrying Case to safely transport sneakers and protect the shoeboxes while traveling and The Cozy Blazer was designed to keep women warm in the workplace, offering the comfort of a hiking jacket with the professional look of a business blazer. The Cord Clipper was created to solve the problem of tangled headphone cords and to help keep them organized. Pretzel Dipperz was designed for chocolate covered pretzel rods to dry while standing strait up, thus eliminating the flat part of the chocolate on the pretzel. All Together was created as a full service website, offering several perks for online postings, targeted toward the 12- to 21-year-old demographic.
When the presentations were complete, the judges were asked to choose an overall best product winner and overall best presentation winner. The judges convened in the hallway and returned to the classroom to announce the winners.
Before announcing the winners, judge Jack Scott addressed the students.
“This is the second year I have judged this competition. I am always amazed with the great ideas you students come up with. Your great creativity is sometimes not appreciated. Hats off to you all. These are tremendous ideas. A few might even be worth pursuing. You have all done great work,” Scott said.
The judges declared the D1 Thumb Guard as the best product, which was presented by Dingerz, Inc., founders Spencer Woolley, Ricky Havrilla and Richie Herrera. The judges then bestowed the best presentation award on the duo of Justin Schneider and Andrew Murphy of EZ Way, Inc., for their EZ Carrying Case.
Nicole Ford, program manager for Junior Achievement of Mahoning Valley, was also on hand to observe the students present their product pitches.
“These kids really have some amazing ideas. I love coming out to see what they have come up with,” Ford said.