One of the winners of Best of Show from the second annual Kosciusko Student Venture Challenge Showcase was Warsaw Community High School student Aliah Barkey. Through the challenge, students created a business and pitched it to community members during the showcase on Thursday, April 17, at Rodeheaver Auditorium in Winona Lake. From left are Kosciusko County Community Coordinator Amy Roe, Best of Show judge Nick Deeter, Barkey, Best of Show judge Angie Harrison and Steve Franks of nonprofit Believe in a Dream.
Text and Photos
By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews
WINONA LAKE — Two local high school students have won awards for their presentations of businesses they created.
Aliah Barkey of Warsaw Community High School and Channon Frentzel of Tippecanoe Valley High School won Best of Show during the second annual Kosciusko Student Venture Challenge Showcase on Thursday, April 17, at Rodeheaver Auditorium in Winona Lake.
Barkey displayed her acrylic pouring artwork business, AB Artistry, and Frentzel, her ocean cleaning device, Pure Waters. They were among students from their respective schools plus Whitko High School, Wawasee High School and Lakeland Christian Academy who sold items and pitched their business to community members.
The showcase was just one part of the venture challenge, which came about through Kosciusko County’s participation in the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs’ Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program.
Tippecanoe Valley High School student Channon Frentzel also won Best of Show in the showcase. From left are Roe, Deeter, Frentzel, Harrison and Franks.
Through H.E.L.P., meant to assist communities after the COVID-19 pandemic, local leaders discovered the need for a youth business initiative, said Kosciusko County Community Coordinator Amy Roe.
She helps run the venture challenge with Steve Franks of the organization Believe in a Dream. The Fort Wayne-based nonprofit helps teach students entrepreneurship and leadership.
Students from the five schools who are part of the eight-month venture challenge took part in monthly joint sessions teaching business skills, including a field trip to Plug and Play in Warsaw. Teachers from each of the schools also expanded on those lessons.
Students also pitched their ideas before a judging panel.
All of the students who participated in the challenge also won money, getting bronze, silver or gold awards based on their amount of effort throughout the program. Bronze award winners got $100, silver $300 and gold $500.
Other awards given out Thursday included an honorable mention nod for Best of Show from judges of that award, Nick Deeter and Angie Harrison, to TVHS student Shay Kelsey. Deeter noted Kelsey was brave to talk about her faith and struggle with mental illness in pitching her devotional business, EmpowerHerGrace.
Franks gave out a Young Entrepreneur Award to TVHS student Blaine Sheetz for his Bolt Buddy business and a Young Visionary Award to Warsaw student Paloma Cervantes-Servin for her Molzcalia Couture business.
