Nine central San Joaquin Valley middle and high school students will vie Saturday, May 8, at the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) semifinal competition at California State University, Fresno for a chance to advance to regional and – possibly – national competition.
Five businesses will be selected by a judging panel of area business executives from 9 a.m. to noon at the Pete P. and Leon S. Peters Education Center in the Student Recreation Center (Shaw and Woodrow avenues, west of the Save Mart Center).
They will move on to the fourth annual NFTE Central Valley Regional Business Plan Competition on May 20. The winner there will be entered into the
Oppenheimer Funds/NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in New York with the chance to win up to $10,000 and an internship in his/her field.
Eight of the competing students are from Fresno schools: Ashlee Rocha of Fresno High, Dana Alkhandak of Hoover High, Vernave Medrano of Roosevelt High, Mai Vang of Duncan Polytechnical High, Aaron Adkins of McLane High Brenda Garcia of Bullard High, Brittany Gray of Edison High and Ruben Lara of W.E.B. Dubois Charter. The other is Sam Marin from Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Wasco,
Judges are Beth Smith, CEO of Click; Nathaniel Moor, owner of Nathaniel Moore & Associates; Joi Eubanks, program manager of Central California Small Business Development Center; and Debbie Hunsaker, owner of Alert-O-Lite.
Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship is a national program that provides entrepreneurship education programs to young people from low-income communities to enhance their economic productivity by improving business, academic and life skills.
The Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fresno State coordinates NFTE with local schools, providing all logistics of the program including teacher training, site field trips, guest speaker appearances and networking events.
For more information contact Genelle Taylor, associate director of the Lyles Center at 559.294.2045 orgenellet@csufresno.edu.
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