Normandy High School NFTE

Nano Thermal Suit Inventors to Compete in High School Student Entrepreneur Competition

The winner on May 2 will advance to the national finals and have a chance to win $25,000 at the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in NYC this fall.

Four young entrepreneurs from St. Louis Metro area high schools will pitch their business ideas at the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Regional Youth Entrepreneurship competition to be held at the DK Annex on South Jefferson on Wednesday, May 2, 2018.

The competition starts at 7:00 a.m., as these students vie for a chance to win cash prizes and move on to represent their city at the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in New York City this fall.

Prizes totaling $3000 will be awarded to the winners on May 2, and the winner of the St. Louis Metro Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge will advance to compete against other regional winners at NFTE’s National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge in the fall, where they’ll have a chance to win a grand prize of $25,000.

Normandy High School NFTE
Obinno Coley (center), entrepreneurship teacher at Normandy High, with his students Raheem Larry (left) and Deimon McKinney at the 2017 NFTE regional competition at Saint Louis University. Larry and McKinney placed second in the contest and are advancing to the national competition in New York City.

The five students who’ll be pitching at the St. Louis Metro Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge on May 2 include:

Jobir Ahmad-Gol, 9th-grader at Normandy High School will pitch The Nano Thermal Suit
A single product with a dual purpose of muscle compression and recycling body heat in cold weather using fabric technology.

Cherish Thompson and O’Ryan Bolden, 11th graders at McCluer North High School will pitch Safe Shades
A pharmaceutical product that allows people who take medication to quickly and safely alter the color of their medications for safe, easy identification. This product will save people from trips to the emergency room and even from possible death from taking wrong medications. Safe Shades makes medications more identifiable by custom colorization.

Cassandra Childrey, a 10th grader at McCluer North High School will pitch Flashing Hounds
A dog leash that glows brightly by the flick of a switch. This dog leash makes walking your beloved pet safer at night for both you and the dog. It shows drivers of cars where you are. Using Flashing Hounds innovative dog leash will cut down on pedestrians being hit by cars when they are out walking their dogs at night.

For more than three decades, NFTE has been sending the students who win their regional competitions to New York City to pitch their businesses and display their entrepreneurship skills at the National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge.

The business pitches will be judged by a group of distinguished judges including:

  • Tim Wentworth, Chief Executive Officer, Express Scripts
  • Juanita Logan, Director, Corporate Development, World Wide Technology
  • Siddique Hameed, Software Artisan & Pragmatic Technologist, Mastercard
  • Eric Heckman, Owner, Tani Sushi Bistro
  • Mike Smalls, Director, Head of Loss Mitigation and Collections, Citi Bank

The St. Louis Metro Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge will be jointly hosted by Chyna Bowen, Regional Sr. Manager and NFTE alumni, Bryson Pate, a 2016 NFTE graduate. The event is presented by Mastercard with support from Citi Foundation and Microsoft.

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