Area high school students who have an entrepreneurial spirit will have a chance to earn nearly $4,500 in cash and prizes during the second annual Junior PioPitch competition at Marietta College on Thursday, April 19th.
“Last year we piloted the program by inviting several Marietta High School students and a couple of Ely Chapman students to pitch their business ideas in a special session of the PioPitch program,” said Dr. Jacqueline Khorassani, Director of the Entrepreneurship Program at the College. “That is when we discovered that many students had great ideas. This year, we decided to expand the program by inviting high school juniors and seniors across the Mid-Ohio Valley to compete for cash awards and free college courses.”
Students can compete alone or as part of a two-person team. Each high school has established its own process to nominate up to two teams for the competition. The eligible high schools are in Athens, Gallia, Monroe, Morgan, Noble and Washington counties in Ohio, and Calhoun, Jackson, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Tyler, Wirt and Wood counties in West Virginia.
The deadline for teams to apply is April 5. The competition will take place from 4-6 p.m. in the Timothy O. Cooper Auditorium in Thomas Hall.
Khorassani said there will be a panel of three to four judges, who will listen to each presentation that can last up to three minutes. There is also a Q&A with the judges afterward that can last up to three minutes.
The first-place individual or team will receive $200 cash and three free 3-credit hour courses at Marietta College valued at $4,275. Second place receives $150 and two free 3-credit hour courses at Marietta valued at $2,850, while third place gets $50 and one free Marietta 3-credit hour course valued at $1,425.
The cash prizes are made available through a donation by the Marietta Community Foundation.
The PioPitch Competition was made possible because of a generous grant received from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
