Students from four school districts, five colleges and one trade school participated in the Student Shark Tank competition held on Martin Luther King Day. Funded by a Polk County Community Betterment grant, a total of $5,000 was awarded to eight young entrepreneurs and community leaders.
Business ideas varied from a patented product created in a high school CAD class to a business service to help other businesses. Other ideas included apparel sales and high-tech tracking systems.
The top place community project was Devs Doing Good pitched by Connor Forgarty of Valley High School. Devs Doing Good is a student organization that provides opportunities for students interested in code development to apply their skills for the benefit of a non-profit in need. It is less than a year old but is planning to expand to school districts across the state of Iowa. Other winning community projects included Harvesting For The Arts (H.A.R.T.)to assist students pursuing activities in the arts, providing supplies for teachers and building an outdoor classroom.
Each pitch was judged on the merit of the idea, return on investment, execution plan and presentation. Area sharks on the judging panel included Kerry Walter-Ashby, Ankeny City Council; Chris Murray president and CEO of Denny Elwell Company; Trent Murphy, owner of CJM Financial and Mike Mertz with Ankeny School District.
“This is a fun way to connect students with the business community and give them a chance to test out their skills.” said Murray. “We have a lot of young talent. We want to give them an opportunity to shine.”
Due to COVID-19 safety measures the in-person judging panel was limited. The hybrid meeting model allowed participants to pitch in-person or virtually. This arrangement allowed more to get involved. A total of 18 pitches were made.The in-person portion of the event was hosted by Accumold at their headquarters in Ankeny.
|
Awards |
Business Category |
Name |
School |
|
$1,000 |
Business Sitters |
Amber Smith |
Drake University |
|
$750 |
Dog Mom |
Tyler Brown |
Southview Middle School |
|
$500 |
Early Bird |
Bradley Van Heeswyk |
Local 33 Plumber & Pipe Fitters |
|
$250 |
Loco |
Shreyas & Shrestha Shrestha |
Johnston Middle School |
|
Awards |
Community Project Category |
Name |
School |
|
$1,000 |
Devs Doing Good |
Connor Forgarty |
Valley High School |
|
$750 |
H.A.R.T. |
Margaret Cook |
Ankeny High School |
|
$500 |
Teacher Supply |
Megan Rembert |
Southview Middle School |
|
$250 |
Centennial Outdoor Classroom |
Aaron Martin |
Ankeny Centennial High School |
Megan Rembert of Southview Middle School pitches her idea to Mike Mertz, Chris Murray, Aaron Johnson and Kerry Walter-Ashby (online).
Connor Forgarty pitches Devs Doing Good via Zoom.
