'Stepping stones': Volusia Schools hosts inaugural high school business pitch competition

DELTONA — With dreams of pursuing an entrepreneurial career, several Volusia County high-schoolers took a big step toward their goal last week.

On Tuesday, the district hosted the first edition of its new CTE (Career and Technical Education) Pitch Competition, which featured approximately 20 Volusia students from five different schools who pitched their own business ideas to local entrepreneurs who judged the contest.

The winning presentation won a scholarship prize and a guaranteed spot at the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship regional and national tournaments, in Miami and New York respectively later this year.

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NFTE is an international nonprofit organization “focused on bringing the power of entrepreneurship to youth in low-income communities,” according to its website.

Presenting individually or in teams of two, students were divided into four different rooms throughout the Center at Deltona, where they presented to a panel of approximately five judges.

Participating schools were Mainland High School, Burns Sci-Tech High School, University High School, DeLand High School and T. Dewitt Taylor Middle-High School.

Bradley Covino, a 15-year-old student from Burns Sci-Tech High School in Oak Hill, was one of the presenters.

Covino came up with an idea for a fully automatic pressure-cleaning device under the company name “Pressure Prince.”

“(Entrepreneurship) is a field I have always I wanted to be in, because I like to take my ideas and put them into perspective and make them something bigger and better,” Covino said. “This is just one of the steps I feel like would help me progress and get better.”

He said he plans to continue pursuing his idea in the future, no matter the event’s outcome.

“I still want to pursue an entrepreneurial career,” he said. “I think this is a cool way to start.”

CTE popularity in Volusia Schools

Like Covino, the competing students competing at the event participate in Volusia County’s CTE program, which offers “career pathways from high school to post-secondary education, including dual-enrollment and articulated credit as well as over 45 industry certification credentials,” according to the program’s website.

One such career path is business management and administration, which also includes entrepreneurship and a curriculum created by NFTE.

“They teach students, from the beginning to the end, how to get into the entrepreneurial mindset,” said Vince Roeshink, a CTE specialist with Volusia County Schools, who was in charge of the event. “From there, they create a business idea, and from the idea they try to create everything that it would need to start a business and get the business going.”

The program offers an alternative to students who do not feel higher education is the path for them.

“It’s been really popular in high school levels teaching this type of content, because some students don’t want to go on to higher education,” Roeshink said. “So this is a way for them to kind of get into that mindset and maybe they can start a business right after high school.”

Volusia Schools Superintendent Carmen Balgobin said each of the district’s high schools has students enrolled in entrepreneurship classes. She said there are currently 92 CTE programs being offered in Volusia County Schools.

Balgobin also praised the support from local entrepreneurs who helped the event happen.

“We have 31 judges from our community,” Balgobin said. “They are elected officials or they are business partners with us. So there will be conversation between our community and the students, because they are our future work force.”

'Stepping stones' toward the main goal

The four best presentations from each room, plus an extra spot, were selected for the final round of presentations for the winner's selection.

Marli Schalkham of Burns Sci-Tech High School won the judges’ vote with her idea for an app called “Clear Minds,” which would provide psychological assistance to teenagers struggling with mental health issues.

Autumn Demarest, a 15-year-old student from Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, presented an idea for an app, called “Insta Work,” which would offer high school students an online space to share their knowledge and advice on schoolwork with each other.

“If you really want to be an entrepreneur and to be in business, you have to be willing to be open to other people’s perspectives,” Demarest said.

Demarest said getting feedback from the judges was especially helpful, because “they are people who have done business and run businesses.”

Jonathan Williams, who came up with a haircut service called “Evol Cutz,” which would focus on providing quick haircuts to male clients, said events like these are “stepping stones” toward the final goal of creating a business.

“I wasn’t really looking forward to actually winning, I just wanted the experience,” said Williams, who is a senior at Mainland High School. “Now that I have the knowledge, I can take it and run with it.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia students pitch business ideas in entrepreneurial competition