Bishop Shanahan High School, West Catholic Preparatory High School,
and Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls took top spots.

On Wednesday, May 16, 2018, students representing all 17 high schools of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia participated in the Rising Starters Program sponsored by the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship at Drexel University. For the past several months, approximately 200 students from Archdiocesan high schools developed for profit and not for profit business concepts and participated in individual pitch competitions at the local school level.

The Rising Starters Program culminated with a judged competition at Drexel University in Behrakis Hall. Prior to the start of the final round Nick Bayer, Founder and CEO of Saxby’s delivered the keynote address.  Attendees also heard from Donna De Carolis, Ph.D., Dean of the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship and Sister Maureen Lawrence McDermott, I.H.M., Ph.D., Chief Academic Officer and Superintendent of Secondary Schools for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Each team who presented in the final round had four minutes to pitch their idea. The pitch was followed by an intense sixty-second question and answer session with the judges who included: Nick Bayer, Mike Hagan, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Hawk Capital Partners; Lisa Maguire, Founder of Get Real Get Raw; Jamie Maguire, Executive Chairman of Philadelphia Insurance Companies and Member of Drexel University Board of Trustees; and Stan Silverman, Vice Chairman of Drexel University and Founder & CEO of Silverman Leadership.

The top three teams were:

• 1^st place received $2,500.00 from the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship
  • Bishop Shanahan High School represented by Michael Skros, Shaun Vassil, Hailey Gibson, and Faith Busanic.
  • EZ-Jar, a jar with a built-in screw mechanism that allows for peanut butter, mayonnaise, and similar products to easily be scraped out of the jar.
• 2^nd place received $1,500.00 from the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship
  • West Catholic Preparatory High School represented by Tamiya Spraggins, Nylla Johnson, and Ayanna Williams.
  • Oggo, is a system of electronic organization and storage for Home, Work, and On-The-Go.
• 3^rd place received $1,000.00 from the Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship
  • Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls represented by Nicole Lemongelli.
  • E Septa, an app that allows you to digitally store and use your electronic transit pass to avoid misplacing it.

The majority of Archdiocesan high schools who participated in this initiative worked with Schoolyard Ventures, an official Rising Starters Program partner, which provided mentorship to individual groups throughout the process.
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Editor’s Note:
For information about Drexel University’s Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship, please visit www.drexel.edu/close/.

For more information about Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, please visit www.aopcatholicschools.org/. For information about Faith in the Future, please visit http://faithinthefuture.com/.

Contact:

Meredith Wilson
Media and Events Specialist
215-587-3747