Fort Hays State Student from Clyde Finishes in 2nd Place in 2022 Faulkner Challenge

A student from Clyde was part of the team that finished in second place at the 2022 Faulkner Challenge at Fort Hays State University.

The Faulkner Challenge is a business plan competition designed to develop entrepreneurial imagination and innovation in university students, regardless of major or interests.  It is open to any new venture in the conceptual, seed, or startup stages and to students from any community college or university in Kansas, whether public or private.  Teams are evaluated on their ability to clearly identify a market opportunity, value proposition, and sustainable competitive advantage.

FHSU alum Kevin Faulkner established an endowed fund for the W.R. and Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship business plan challenge that now bears his name.  He supports the challenge in many ways, including serving as a judge for the competition.

“When I was a student, there was no competition like this, but I did participate in Model United Nations, debate, and forensics,” Faulkner said.  “As a result, I learned that hands-on experience bridges education to the real world.”

The second-place $3,000 prize went to SkySprayers, a group of five students whose plan centered around building and patenting an autonomous lightweight drone for farmers to use in spraying their fields.  The team used a detailed, animated video to demonstrate how their mobile system enabled their drone to fly to spraying missions, return to base and re-supply, and change batteries between flights.

Wyatt Cyr of Clyde was a member of the SkySprayers Team.  Other team members were Tyler Preisser of Buhler, Chance Fuhrman of Bronson, John Gamez-Ramos of Ellis, and Kole West of Thornton, Colorado.

The Faulkner Challenge is executed in three stages that proceed from submission and evaluation of a written business plan, to a 10-minute oral presentation semifinal round, to a “money” round of the final three teams.  Each team provides a more elaborated, 15-minute presentation for the finals and is subject to more detailed questions and answers from a panel of expert judges.

A total of 13 teams of Fort Hays State students submitted entries for consideration, and a three-person committee selected eight to make oral presentations.  One team withdrew before the presentations, leaving seven to vie for the finals.  Judges for the competition included experts from Kansas, Texas, Utah, California, and Washington.

Dr. Rick Edgeman, director of FHSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship who is in charge of the challenge, said that all the teams chosen to give oral presentations brought great ideas.  The judges asked questions at the end of the seven presentations and provided feedback to the students.

“The difference is found in how the teams respond to the advice from the judges (during the first round of presentations),” Edgeman said.  “The judges press the contestants on issues, including finance, insurance, marketing, and what it really takes to develop a prototype.”

The three finalists were allowed to tweak their presentations before the finals.