$30,000 Awarded at High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge

Utah’s top high school entrepreneurs won $30,000 in cash and prizes at the 2017 High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge (HS UEC) Final Awards and Showcase event today at the University of Utah’s Lassonde Studios. The program is managed by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, a division of the David Eccles School of Business, and sponsored by Zions Bank.

The competition received nearly 150 student business idea submissions from high school students throughout the state. The top-24 teams advanced to the final round, where they got the chance to pitch their ideas to judges, made up of many influential community leaders. Teams’ ideas and business presentations ranged from a portable solar panel to affordable homes for the homeless.

The High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge is managed by a team of student leaders at the Lassonde Institute. Their goal is to help high school students explore innovation and early stage business.

“It was an incredible experience to see up-and-coming entrepreneurs showcase their hard work and pitch their idea to the judges,” said Stephanie Gladwin, a University of Utah senior and chair of the High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge.

Three teams won the Grand Prize awards of $5,000 each:

• Straight Shot (Kearns High School) – Adaptive apparel/clothing company to provide ease in accessing areas to administer medications by injection, port, feeding tube or other ways.
• Colo Clean (Rowland Hall, Park City) – An alternative colonoscopy preparation kit. Their mission is to provide an effective, humane, personalized colonoscopy prep kit that keeps prep less burdensome for the patient.
• Puzzle Panel (Academy for Math, Engineering & Science, Salt Lake City) – Portable solar panels that would eventually be able to be sent to emergency sites and set up very quickly.

Straight Shot, one of three Grand Prize winners.

The winner of the People’s Choice award of $1,000 was Health For All. The team secured the most votes from spectators at the event. The team is from Park City High School, and they have a line of clothing and accessories that use a type of subwoofer to be used for healing.

“Today was a milestone day to have the High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge and the Utah Entrepreneur Challenge together,” said Mike Winder, vice president of community development at Zions Bank. “The energy was explosive and amazing.”

Among the other prizes were $1,000 scholarships for 10 young creative minds to live at Lassonde Studios, an entrepreneurial living-learning community at the University of Utah. The building opened in August 2016. All students at the University of Utah are welcome to live at Lassonde Studios or to use the 20,000-square foot innovation space on the first floor to collaborate, build prototypes and launch companies.

“We appreciate the community coming out to support our students” said Anne Bastien, program director at the Lassonde Institute “All of the teams this year blew us away and made us truly excited for the entrepreneurial community in Utah.”

Learn more about High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge at lassonde.utah.edu/hsuec.

Find the winners of the 2017 Utah Entrepreneur Challenge here.

Puzzle Panel, one of three Grand Prize winners.

Winners of the 2017 High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge

• Grand Prize Winners, $5,000 each (Zions Bank) – StraightShot Apperal, Colo Clean, Puzzle Panel
• Lassonde Studios Scholarships, $1,000 each (Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute) – The DeFlame Wrap (Jonathon Vizmeg), Puzzle Panels (Isaac Bromley-Dulfano), Board Buddy (Keyan Adams), Colo Clean (Tobi Yoon), HeadShot (Madison Hooper and Shreya Mahassenan), Valle (Caleb Christensen), The Curb Climber (Andrew Rich), Health For All (Kyle Haas), My Lunch (Lauren Barlow)
• People’s Choice Award, $1,000 (Zions Bank) – Health For All
• Best Prototype Award, $1,000 (Zions Bank) – Air Scare
• Rising Star Award, $1,000 (Zions Bank) – 123Hammock
• Top Online Vote Award, $500 (Zions Bank) – The Great Traffic De-escalator
• Finalist Award, $100 each (Zions Bank) – All teams won
• STEM Entrepreneur Award, $1,000 (STEM Action Center) – Head Shot
• Zions Elite Entrepreneur Package (Zions Bank) – All teams won
• Impact Hub In-Kind Award (Impact Hub) – Head Shot, Self-Image Mirror, My Lunch
• Intellectual Property Protection Package (Snell & Wilmer) – The DeFlame Wrap

Top 24 High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge Teams

Here are the top 24 teams in the High School Utah Entrepreneur Challenge in alphabetical order:

• 123Hammock – Skyridge High School (Lehi) – Aims to revolutionize the hammock industry by providing a hammock that has easily attachable parts.
• Air Scare – Beehive Science & Technology Academy (Sandy) – Innovative small, portable and nonpolluting air dancers (ADs) make a positive impact by making air travel safer and saving birds’ lives by scaring them away from airports.
• AptiTekk – Bingham High School (South Jordan) – All-in-one business solution makes it easy to book rooms, equipment and more.
• BacteriaPets – Maser Prep Academy (Orem) – A fun classroom lab designed for elementary school classrooms. Using bacteria, students can create their own “pets,” or bacteria cultures, in a safe environment, while learning about bacteria at the same time.
• Board Buddy – American Preparatory Academy (Riverton) – Board Buddy makes it impossible for beginner snowboarders to catch their edge. The product is made of hard plastic that prevents the riders downhill edge from touching the snow.
• CoderKeys – Pine View High School (St. George) – An app to teach kids how to type more efficiently for computer programming – and it’s fun.
• ColoClean – Rowland Hall (Park City) – An alternative colonoscopy preparation kit. Their mission is to provide an effective, humane, personalized colonoscopy prep kit that keeps prep less burdensome for the patient.
• DeFlame Wrap – West High School (Salt Lake City) – The wrap will provide support and compression on muscles during exercise. After exercise, the wearer may chill the wrap to ice any inflamed muscle areas.
• Discount Driver – West High School (Salt Lake City) – An app that tracks phone usage while driving through the use of accelerator and NFC sensors.
• GovGush – Riverton High School (Riverton) – GovGush is a unified technology platform, via mobile and web engagement app, for the public, political representatives and governments.
• HeadShot: Concussion Diagnosis – Hillcrest High School (Midvale) – Help athletes know how to better care for and handle their concussions. The technology used measures brain activity of regions of the cortex.
• Health For All – Park City High School (Park City) – A line of clothing and accessories that integrates a type of subwoofer (tactile transducers or bass shakers) to be used for new-age healing techniques as well as a cutting-edge musical experience.
• Multi-Use Backpack – Timpview High School (Provo) – A backpack with an inflatable mattress and pump. Allows buyer to be able to sleep more comfortably on the go.
• My Lunch – Herriman High School (Herriman) – Parents and students can pre-order delicious, wholesome lunches from the My Lunch app and select a nutritious meal with quality fruits and vegetables.
• One Heart One Home – Kearns High School (Kearns) – It starts by giving the homeless a place to call home, and a community they care about maintaining. The primary goal is to design and construct tiny homes for those who have no place to go.
• PocketFab – Skyridge High School (Lehi) – This is a simple product: a pocket. This pocket will be able to hold your phone and other items in a place of your choice.
• pRaise the Pringle – Park City High School (Park City) – Created a lift so that as Pringles are removed from the top, the lift pushes new Pringles to the top of the can.
• Puzzle Panels – Academy for Math, Engineering & Science (Salt Lake City) – Portable solar panels that would eventually be able to be sent to emergency sites and set up very quickly.
• Self-Image Mirror – Timpview High School (Provo) – What if instead of only providing our reflection, our mirror could let us know that we’re looking good, that our hair is impeccable and our outfit stunning? The Self-Image Mirror will provide this service.
• Stadium Chair – Skyridge High School (Lehi) – Seats in the stadium that are heated and cooled for when it is cold or hot outside.
• StraightShot Apparel – Kearns High School (Kearns) – Adaptive apparel/clothing company to provide ease in accessing areas to administer medications by injection, port, feeding tube or other ways.
• The Curb Climber – Copper Hills High School (West Jordan) – A base that will be built into the bottom of motorized chairs that will use motors and wheels to lift the chair over the curb.
• The Great Traffic Stop De-escalator – Skyline High School (Millcreek) – A robot that acts as an intermediary between the police officer and the civilian for traffic violation stops.
• Valle – Bingham High School (South Jordan) – Valle is a high-end clothing brand for urban and streetwear designs.

About the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute

The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute is a nationally ranked hub for student entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of Utah and an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business. The first programs were offered in 2001, through the vision and support of Pierre Lassonde, an alumnus of the Eccles School and successful mining entrepreneur. The institute now provides opportunities for thousands of students to learn about entrepreneurship and innovation. Programs include workshops, networking events, business-plan competitions, startup support, innovation programs, graduate seminars, scholarships, community outreach and more. All programs are open to students from any academic major or background. The Lassonde Institute also manages the Lassonde Studios, a new $45 million innovation space and housing facility for all students. Learn more at lassonde.utah.edu.