Concordia Senior Lewis VanMeter Participates in Statewide Youth Entrepreneurship Competition
Concordia High School Senior Lewis VanMeter recently competed in the statewide Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge event in April at the K-State Student Union in Manhattan.
VanMeter was the winner of the 3rd Cloud County Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge for his business idea, "LV Auto Detailing," which focuses on the comfort and cleanliness of your vehicle. "LV Auto Detailing" was also named the winner of the Best Marketed Award in the county competition.
The Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge, or KEC, is a program of the NetWork Kansas Entrepreneurship (E)-Community Partnership and involves several Kansas State University partners, including the Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship in the College of Business Administration. Through the K-State 105 initiative, the 2023-2024 competition year involved K-State Research and Extension and Kansas 4-H.
The Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge represents the culmination of a sequence of community-based entrepreneurship competitions for students in grades 6-12, known as the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, or YEC, series. Students are selected to compete in the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge by winning a sanctioned Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge series competition or by being selected as one of 16 wildcard participants, who are chosen because of the strength of their executive summary and pre-recorded elevator pitch.
This competition year marks the 11th annual Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge season and was the largest year for the entrepreneurship series, with 1,159 students participating from across the state.
The Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge series consists of local-level youth entrepreneurship competitions hosted by volunteers. Local Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge series events require students to prepare an executive summary and formal presentation, and they often feature interactive tradeshows or elevator pitches. Students work in teams or individually to represent a business concept and compete for awards and prizes. Students' work is judged by local entrepreneurs, public sector partners, teachers and other community members.
The businesses that advanced to the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge state championship were judged on their executive summaries and mock boardroom presentations.
The students also had the opportunity to participate in a tradeshow to showcase their businesses. Members of the public could attend and vote for their favorite businesses.
The Kansas communities in North Central Kansas that hosted a local Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge series event included Clay County, Cloud County, Jewell County, Mitchell County, and Republic County. Additional communities were invited to participate.
For more information, visit youtheshipchallenge.com.