Entrepreneurship Symposium Draws Students To Baylor Campus

by Alan Hunt

About 100 students from eight Texas high schools competed in the Governor's Symposium on Economic Development Through Entrepreneurship held April 14 at Baylor University.
The competition, sponsored by the John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business and Extraco Bank of Greater Waco, was the culmination of a year-long study of entrepreneurship through the Texas REAL Enterprises (Rural Entrepreneurship Through Action Learning) program. REAL Enterprises, a not-for-profit organization in Durham, N.C., partners with select high schools and community colleges across the United States to provide youth and adults of all ages with the opportunity to become entrepreneurs.
Students competed in two categories, business exhibition and business plan competition. In the business exhibition category, they presented visual displays of their business ideas and were judged on presentation and use of materials. In the business plan competition, students presented written business plans, visual displays and formal presentations to the judging panel. Award sponsors were Community Bank and Trust of Waco and Dr. Patrick and Alicia Gibson of San Angelo.
First place winner in the exhibition competition was "The Party Planner" by Amy Cameron of Whitney High School. Other award winners were "Speedy Deliveries" by Shawna Horn of Longview Pinetree High School, second place; "JARS All-Stars" by Jade Ratliff of Whitney High School, third place; "Letha's Café" by Clauletha Brooks of Channelview High School, fourth place; and Ski-8 by Joseph Olivarri of the School of Excellence, San Antonio, fifth place. These winners shared the $600 prize awards made available by the Gibsons and Baylor University.
The winner of the business plan competition was "River's Edge Surveying" by Whitney High school student Warren Ince, who received a $1000 cash award provided by Extraco Bank of Waco and a $1000 scholarship to the Hankamer School of Business. The second place winner was Carmen Guajardo of Channelview High School whose business plan on "Carmen's Authentic Mexican Restaurant" earned a $750 cash award sponsored by Community Bank & Trust of Waco. Other winners were "Christina's Cleaning Service" by Christina Wiedenfeld of the School of
Excellence, San Antonio, third place; "Tried and True Errand Running Service" by Vanessa
Sandoval of Burges High School, El Paso, fourth place; "Parent Paradise" by Rhonda Watson and Andrea Ackley of Longview Pinetree High School, fifth place; and "REAL Cookies" by Jessica Morales, Iris Ochoa and Noemi Rodriguez of Edcouch-Elsa High School, sixth place. The third through sixth place winners also received cash awards ranging from $500 to $100.
Judges for this year's competition were Claude Henry, executive vice president of Extraco Bank of Waco; Pam Clark, business development specialist and certified business advisor at Angelo State University's Small Business Development Center; and Dr. James A. Roberts, associate professor of marketing and holder of the Mrs. W.A. (Agnes) Mays Professorship in Entrepreneurship at Baylor.
Other activities included a lunch program with presentations by Dr. R. Duane Ireland, director of the Entrepreneurship Studies Program and the Curtis Hankamer Professor of Entrepreneurship at Baylor, and Dr. Robert Nicks, executive director of the Region 5 Education
Service Center in Beaumont. Students also toured the Baylor campus accompanied by members of Baylor's Student Foundation, enjoyed Dr Pepper floats and took home souvenirs of their trip provided by many local businesses and organizations.
For more information call Mary Abrahams, program coordinator at the John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship, at 710-4159.