Skip to Content Skip to Footer
Goshen College

Goshen College partners with Indiana counties to offer scholarships for young entrepreneurs

May 10, 2018

hands and notebook

Goshen College has partnered with LaGrange County and DeKalb County in northeast Indiana to judge and offer scholarships for their young entrepreneur competitions, both of which took place this spring.

For both events, the winning high school entrepreneurs received a $12,000 scholarship to Goshen College, renewable for four years, and all participants received $7,000 scholarships, renewable for four years.

“It’s exciting to see high school students, teachers, business owners and others in these counties building their entrepreneurship ecosystem,” said Michelle Horning, professor of accounting at Goshen College. “All the students in the competitions have interesting ideas and put in lots of time testing their ideas, talking with customers and perfecting their pitch for the judges. Regardless of whether they launch their venture, all of these students have developed their entrepreneurial mindset which can be applied to any career path they follow.”

Launch LaGrange County Entrepreneur Competition

Jonathan Geiser
Jonathan Geiser

On March 14, Goshen College partnered with the third annual Launch LaGrange County Entrepreneur Competition, sponsored by the LaGrange County Chamber of Commerce, Community Foundation and Economic Development Corporation. The event featured six teams of students representing Lakeland, Prairie Heights and Westview High Schools, pitching their businesses to a live audience and panel of expert judges, including Jonathan Geiser, associate professor of business at Goshen College.

This is the third year that Goshen has provided a judge and scholarship money to this event.

The participants their businesses include:

  • First place: Peyton Schrock (Westview High School)－Schrock Mobile Poultry Butchering and Processing, a full-service operation for those who prefer clean meat and convenience.
  • Second place: Daniel Lambright (Lakeland High School)－Smart Solar, a venture that uses solar power to recharge and extend the life of golf cart batteries.
  • Third place: Manny Rangel (Lakeland High School)－Adapt, a new way to advertise to a specific target market using electronic media.
  • Amelia Johnston (Prairie Heights High School)－Grassy Ditch Dairy Goats
  • Nisha Patel, Shelbi Smith, and Andre Stutzman (Westview High School)－Manure Movers
  • Danny Lewis (Lakeland High School)－New Horizons Health and Beauty

 

DeKalb County Launch Tank Entrepreneurship Competition

On April 17, Goshen College participated in the DeKalb County Launch Tank entrepreneurship competition for DeKalb County High School students.

Michelle Horning
Michelle Horning

Each individual or group had five minutes to propose their business idea to a panel of judges, which included Horning.

  • First place: Morgan Spade (DeKalb High School)－Mini Mammals, which makes handmade, plush animal key chains.
  • Second place: Hailee Carothers (Garrett High School)－Paws to Heart Barkery, which makes all-natural treats for dogs.
  • Third place: Joseph Jackson, Evan Thomas, Cameron Cook and Vance Erwin (Eastside High School)－DeKalb Wonderwalls Painting.
  • Logan Petre (DeKalb High School)－Petre’s Peewees, a youth baseball training company.
  • Aspen Pflughoeft, Nicanor Clear and Leah Sprague (Lakewood Park High School)－Travel Veterans, which offers a head-rest device for frequent travelers.
  • Elise Witmer, Cassidy Randol, Destinea Mason and MacKenzie Delaney (Lakewood Park High School)－Bungee Bibs, which makes bibs for infants and toddlers.
  • Ivy Morr and Linda Laws (Garrett High School)－Tutoring and test preparation service for students in grades K-12.