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Indiana high school students win college tuition vouchers at Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy

admin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:40:32 +0000

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Indiana high school students in top-finishing teams of the third annual Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy competition received college tuition vouchers during a special event Friday (June 26).

The vouchers ranged from $100 to $500 and can be used at all Purdue University and Ivy Tech Community College campuses in Indiana. About 50 juniors and seniors from 21 Indiana counties participated in the program.

Anthony Rice of Greenwood presents a business plan for the company 'Impulse Inc.' before judges during the Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy. About 50 Indiana high school juniors and seniors worked with business leaders to create a business, including a financial plan, marketing plan and product development during the weeklong event that concluded Friday (June 26). (Andrew Hancock/Purdue Marketing and Media)

“Indiana’s and the country’s economy depend upon not only the creation of new innovations and technologies but also their commercialization,” said Gregory W. Deason, vice president for real estate and research park development. “The future entrepreneurs who participated in the Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy have built upon their critical skills and abilities, which will aid them in college and their careers.”

The weeklong academy was based on Wendy Kennedy’s entrepreneurship program “So what? who cares? why you?”. Kennedy’s program has been adapted by numerous entrepreneurship and educational organizations across North America.

Students formed teams to create business plans and investor presentations for a range of case studies.

First place went to “Impulse,” with team members Jim Schrader of Central Catholic Junior & Senior High School in Lafayette, Anthony Rice of Greenwood High School in Greenwood, Princessa Rennewanz of Logansport High School in Logansport, Nitesh Bajaj, West Lafayette High School in West Lafayette and John Kipfer of Adams Central High School in Bluffton. The team was mentored by Jonathon Gortat of the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization.

“I really learned what it means to create a marketing plan and a business,” said Schrader. “The most important skill I learned was working with people and understanding their strengths and weaknesses and getting the right synergy going.”

Rice of Greenwood High School agreed. “The whole experience left me with an understanding of how much it takes to be a successful entrepreneur,” Rice said.

Rennewanz of Logansport High School was a second-year participant in the academy.

“I feel more confident this year and understand more about what is going on,” she said. “It’s been exciting because there was something different going on every day as we faced new challenges.”

Bajaj, who also was participating in his second year, said, “It was interesting to apply business knowledge to a different product. Last year we had a bicycle and this year it is a medical implant.”

“I had no idea how much technical work goes into creating a business,” added Kipfer.

Purdue University faculty, Purdue Research Foundation staff, industry experts and high-tech business entrepreneurs worked with the teams to test the feasibility of the case studies, identify capital needs and devise a management plan.

“It’s been a busy week, but rewarding especially when you see the light bulb go off in a student’s eyes when you answer their questions,” Gortat said.

Students from second- and third-place teams, their high schools and hometowns are:

Second place: Saar Inc. with team members are David Gerth, Franklin Central High School, Indianapolis; Alexandra Huang, Greenfield Homeschool Co-op, Indianapolis; Caleb Nagel, Benton Central High School, West Lafayette; Briseida Sandoval, Frankfort High School, Frankfort; and Andrew Stearns, Argos High School, Argos. The team was mentored by Shane Fimbel of the Purdue Research Foundation’s Office of Technology Commercialization.

Third place: Petroleum with team members are Greg Burns, Central Catholic High School, Lafayette; Dongyun Lee, Hamilton Southeastern High School, Fishers; Jennifer Park, Bloomington North High School, Bloomington; Aaron Simmons, Shawe Memorial High School, North Vernon; Jacob Stouder, Triton High School, Etna Green; and Shane White, Greenwood High School, Greenwood. The team was mentored by Heather Clark-Reynolds of the Hoosier Heartland Small Business Development Center.

The David E. Ross Award for Entrepreneurial Distinction was presented to Caleb Nagel of Benton Central High School in Oxford, who was part of the HealRight Team that created a company called Saar Inc. “When I came here last week I did not know a single person on my team,” he said. “But when you spend this much time around the clock with people you get to know them pretty well. I have made many new friends through this experience.”

Participating students were from Adams, Allen, Benton, Cass, Clinton, Delaware, Floyd, Gibson, Greene, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Howard, Jefferson, Johnson, Lake, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Tippecanoe and Vanderburgh counties.

Judges for the academy were Brad Addison, Barnes & Thornburg LLP; Jody Hamilton, Greater Lafayette Commerce; John Hertig, AMIPurdue (Alfred Mann Institute for Biomedical Development); Gail Koehler, Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union (PEFCU); and David Shelby, ICx Griffin Analytical.

Academy sponsors included AMIPurdue, Barnes & Thornburg LLP, Camille’s Sidewalk Café, CSO Architects, Dairy Queen, Flowers by Rustic Bouquet, Greater Lafayette Commerce, Holladay Properties, Ice Miller, Knoy Apparel, Lafayette Office Supply, PEFCU, the Purdue Research Foundation and Sign Art Etc.

Team members Si Yi Huang of Greenwood, Mathew Altepeter of Lafayette, Josie Gandy of Frankfort, Kyle Yoder of Indianapolis and Jake Pusateri of Fishers present their business plan for the company 'Compact Disk Diagnostics LLC' before judges during the Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy. Judges facing the students are from left: Jody Hamilton of Greater Lafayette Commerce, Gail Koehler of PEFCU, Dave Shelby of ICx Griffin Analytical Technologies Inc. and Brad Addison of Barnes & Thornburg LLP. (Andrew Hancock/Purdue Marketing and Media)

Other teams participating in the event included:

RipeRight: Emily Bielefeld, Westfield High School, Westfield; Daniel Collins, Floyd Central High School, Floyds Knobs; Niall Lockyear, F.J. Reitz High School, Evansville; Caralyn Rich, Frankfort High School, Frankfort; Bosi Zhang, Hamilton Southeastern High School, Fortville. The team was mentored by Susan Davis of Greater Lafayette Small Business Development Center.

BikeRight: Sadie Brown, Taylor High School, Kokomo; Franklin Eaglebarger, Indiana Academy for Science, Math & Humanities, Cedar Lake; Austin Marcotte, Brownsburg High School, Brownsburg; Vinya Sagi, West Lafayette High School, West Lafayette; Dalton Snyder, Gibson Southern High School, Haubstadt. The team was mentored by Raul Flamenco of FlamencoNets LLC.

DrillRight: Cary Carreño, Frankfort High School, Frankfort; Phillip Foreman, Lake Central High School, Crown Point; George Garrett, Benton Central High School, Pine Village; Grant McAdams, Franklin Central High School, Indianapolis; and Nicolas Spoentgen, Jefferson High School, Lafayette. The team was mentored by Chris Beltran of Passageways.

DiagnoseRight: Madison Donoho, Frankfort High School, Frankfort; Tiffiny Dreibelbis, Argos High School, Bourbon; Keilor Gilbert, Eastern Greene High School, Solsberry; Christopher Nei, Elmhurst High School, Fort Wayne; Carmen Siew, Crown Point High School, Crown Point; and Andrew Thomas, Leo High School, Fort Wayne. The team was mentored by Stroh Brann of Seneca Consulting LLC.

TestRight: Mathew Altepeter, Jefferson High School, Lafayette; Josie Gandy, Frankfort High School, Frankfort; Si Yu Huang, Greenwood High School, Greenwood; Jake Pusateri, Hamilton Southeastern High School, Fishers; and Kyle Yoder, Franklin Central High School, Indianapolis. The team was mentored by Chris McEvoy of Actum Group.

ReadRight: Emmanuel Bravo, Triton High School, Bourbon; Nicole Jancetic, Elmhurst High School, Fort Wayne; Mark Krutolis, West Lafayette High School, West Lafayette; Alex Robinson, Indiana Academy for Science, Math & Humanities, Goshen; and Tom Zhang, Hamilton Southeastern High School, Fortville. The team was mentored by Steve Thalls of ActionCOACH Business Coaching.

Four local students win National Merit $2500 scholarships

admin — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:37:08 +0000

EVANSTON, Ill. — Today National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC)
announced the names of 2,500 distinguished high school seniors who have won National Merit $2500 Scholarships, four of whom live in Greater Lafayette. The Merit Scholar designees were chosen from a talent pool of approximately 15,000 outstanding Finalists in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program.

The four local winners are:

Jonathon D. Foster of Lafayette (Harrison High School)
Philip K. Thomas of West Lafayette (Harrison High School)
Karen Shen of West Lafayette (West Lafayette High School)
Xixiang Xu of West Lafayette (West Lafayette High School)

National Merit $2500 Scholarship winners are the Finalists in each state judged to have the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. They were selected by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors. These Scholars may use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university.

NMSC is financing most of these single-payment National Merit $2500 Scholarships. Corporations and company foundations that sponsor awards through NMSC also help underwrite these scholarships with grants they provide in lieu of paying administrative fees.

All Finalists competed for these awards. To select scholarship winners, a committee of educators appraised a substantial amount of information submitted by both the Finalists and their high schools: the academic record, including difficulty level of subjects studied and grades earned; scores from two standardized tests; contributions and leadership in school and community activities; an essay describing interests and goals; and the recommendation written by a high school official. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s high school graduating seniors.

This year’s competition for National Merit Scholarships began in October 2007 when more than 1.5 million juniors in over 22,000 high schools took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Last fall, the highest-scoring participants in each state, representing less
than one percent of the state’s seniors, were named Semifinalists on a state representational basis. Only the 16,000 Semifinalists had an opportunity to continue in the competition.

Approximately 15,000 Semifinalists met the very high academic standards and other requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. By the conclusion of the 2009 program, about 8,200 Finalists will earn the “Merit Scholar” title and receive a total of nearly $36 million in college scholarships.

NMSC, a not-for-profit corporation that operates without government assistance, was founded in 1955 specifically to conduct the annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The majority of scholarships offered each year are underwritten by approximately 500 independent corporate and college sponsors that share NMSC’s goals of honoring scholastically talented youth and enhancing their educational opportunities.

3 Greater Lafayette students named Merit Scholarship winners

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:15:09 +0000

EVANSTON, Ill. — More than 1,900 additional winners of National Merit Scholarships
financed by colleges and universities have been announced by National Merit Scholarship
Corporation (NMSC). These Merit Scholar designees join over 2,800 other college-sponsored
award recipients who were announced in late May.

Of the 1,900 additional winners, 3 were from Lafayette-West Lafayette:

Andrew J. West, Jefferson HS, Lafayette
Joe D. Drummond, West Lafayette HS, West Lafayette
Andrew S. Pfaff, Harrison HS, West Lafayette

Officials of each sponsor college selected their winners from among Finalists in the
National Merit Scholarship Program who will attend their institution. College-sponsored awards
provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the
institution financing the scholarship.

This year 194 colleges and universities are sponsoring some 4,700 Merit Scholarship
awards. Sponsor colleges, located in 43 states and the District of Columbia, include 115 private
and 79 public institutions.

This final group of winners brings the number of 2008 National Merit Scholars to
approximately 8,300. These distinguished high school graduates will receive scholarships for
undergraduate study worth a total of approximately $36 million. In addition to college-sponsored
awards, two other types of National Merit Scholarships were offered—2,500 National Merit
$2500 Scholarships for which all Finalists competed and about 1,100 corporate-sponsored Merit
Scholarship awards for Finalists who met criteria specified by their grantor organizations.

2008 National Merit Scholarship Competition

This year’s competition for National Merit Scholarships began when more than 1.4 million
juniors in over 21,000 high schools took the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship
Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. In
September 2007, some 16,000 Semifinalists were named on a state representational basis, in numbers
proportional to each state’s percentage of the national total of high school graduating seniors.
Semifinalists were the highest-scoring program entrants in each state and represented less than one
percent of a state’s seniors.

To advance to the Finalist level of the competition, Semifinalists had to meet additional
requirements. In addition to submitting a detailed scholarship application, which included an
essay describing activities, interests, and goals, they had to have an outstanding academic
record, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, and earn SAT scores that
confirmed the qualifying test performance. About 15,000 Semifinalists attained Finalist
standing, and more than half of this group were chosen to receive National Merit Scholarships.

Established in 1955 to conduct the National Merit Program, NMSC is a not-for-profit
corporation that operates without government assistance. Over the past 53 years, more than
259,000 outstanding young men and women have won National Merit Scholarships worth over
$898 million. The majority of awards offered each year are underwritten by approximately 500
independent corporate organizations and higher education institutions that support NMSC’s efforts
to recognize scholastically talented youth and encourage the pursuit of academic excellence.

Lafayette Online » West Lafayette High School

Indiana high school students win college tuition vouchers at Purdue Research Park Entrepreneurship Academy

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Four local students win National Merit $2500 scholarships

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