Redmond High School juniors win $2200 for their business

LWSD names winners of first Teen CEO Business Competition

 

Redmond, Wash. – Last May, Redmond High School sophomores Patrick Beighle and Sidney Counts decided to make their business idea come to life. On September 14, they started selling “pocket t-shirts” and broke even on their investment within a week. Within three weeks, they had doubled their investment and by week five, they had developed a website and sold their first products via the site. .

 

“Hardwood Tees is a specialty shirt company centered on making cool designs for a cheap and affordable price,” according to the co-owners. They currently sell pocket t-shirts with over 18 styles of pocket patterns to choose from. With everything from wood-themed pockets, to pockets with cats on them, their company’s goal is to be trendy and humorous.  Read More >>

 

On Saturday, March 15, Patrick and Sidney helped their company to make another huge advance. They won Lake Washington School District’s first-ever Teen CEO Business Competition and received a $2,200 cash award to be used toward their business along with sharing the title of “Teen CEO.”

 

In their application, Patrick and Sidney said that they would use the money to purchase raw goods and to develop their website. They have also thought about organizing a photo shoot to better display their products and possibly will sponsor parties or concerts for the local teen community to get their company name out to their target audience, people between the ages of 12-25.

 

“Our main goal in creating this company was to do something fun and create products we love, but now with the money we are making and the potential money from this honorarium, we have realized the places we can go with this idea,” the Teen CEOs said in their business plan application.

 

The purpose of the Teen CEO business competition is to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their entrepreneurial skills, think creatively, problem-solve, work collaboratively, assume personal responsibility, exhibit a strong work ethic, display resiliency, create a strong business plan and become involved in their local community.

 

Eleven students participated in Teen CEO.  To be eligible students needed to have an existing business.  Each project team was able to present to a team of judges that included Roger Blier, CEO, Passport Unlimited; Walt Krueger, partner, Krueger Beck, PLLC; Shannon Jurdana, president and CEO, Benefit Solutions, Inc.; and Charlotte Clary and Bev Vines-Haines, founders of Ice Chips Candy (as seen on ABC’s television show, “Shark Tank”).

 

Second place was awarded to BitTrust co-owners and International Community School seniors, Dylan Steele and Anwell Wang. They received a cash award of $1000. BitTrust is a website where users can write reviews and give ratings for stores that accept digital money (or “bits”). The goal is to help the public to see which vendors are trustworthy and which ones are scams.

 

Third place was awarded to Midzy owner and STEM High School sophomore, Anthony Humay. He received a cash award of $800. Midzy is an online platform of polls where users can create, answer or search a user-created database of questions and statistics from around the world.

 

Juanita High School senior Joe Buhl was given an award for being “Most Inspirational” for his business, Joe’s Dog Service. He received a cash award of $200. Joe walks between 2 and 12 dogs per week to the dog park where he lets them play off leash.

 

The remaining businesses were given an honorable mention and each business received a cash award of $200 to be used to further develop their business:

·         Quark Down Games, Levi Fussell (senior, Eastlake High School)
·         Black Cat Creations, Gayle Lunsford (senior, Emerson High School)
·         Boat Waxing and Cleaning, Josh Guempel (senior, Juanita High School)
·         Team I Fix It, Saleh Hasnawi (senior, Juanita High School)
·         Vidrohi Yoga, Noah Fowler,  (senior, Emerson High School)

 

The Teen CEO event would not have been possible without local businesses and individuals donating cash awards.  These businesses and individuals include: Passport Unlimited, Benefit Solutions, Human Point, Krueger Beck PLLC, Livengood, Fitzgerald and Alskog, One Eighty, Shinstrom and Norman, Ice Chips Candy, Smead, Scott Becker, Sally Otten, Tom Neir and Shannon Jurdana.  The Kirkland Kiwanis is the fiscal agent for Teen CEO.  Reign Labs created the Teen CEO website.