Sara Linderman, an 8th grader at Pilgrim Park Middle School and a resident of Brookfield, is the grand prize winner in Wisconsin YES!, a youth business plan contest for students in middle and high school.
Linderman won with a business plan for SongJudge, a music app that allows musicians to select a song, record a performance and receive a score based on accuracy, tone, articulation, volume and tempo. Linderman, who plays the flute, came up with the idea as she looked for a way to objectively determine her performance ability as she prepared for competitions and auditions.
Linderman presented her plan to more than 250 people at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Middleton during the awards luncheon for the Governor’s Business Plan Contest on June 5. She will attend Brookfield East High School in the fall.
Read this story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel here.
Students had the opportunity to submit their ideas in a 250-word online summary to compete in Phase 1 of the contest. Professionals from across the state acted as judges, provided feedback and scored the ideas. The top 17 entries were selected to move on to Phase 2, where they submitted 1,000-word executive summaries covering company overview; product or service description; customer definition; market description, size and sales strategy; competition; management team; financials; and capital needs.
The recipient of the 2013 Wisconsin YES “Gold Star Teacher” Award is Barb Wood from Pilgrim Park Middle School in Elm Grove, Wis. for her extraordinary efforts in involving and coaching students throughout the Wisconsin YES contest process.
Student finalists included: Suchir Bhatt, RainBeaus Cloud Seeding, Pilgrim Park Middle School; Neil Chand, Omnicare and ProductTrack, Brookfield Academy; Ryan Cray, Solar Parking Lot, Edgewood High School; Benjamin Evans, Anti-Fat Band, Templeton Middle School; Leah German, KidFit Digital Media Center, Silver Lake; Sean Glatch, EcoRrope, Pilgrim Park Middle School; Dana Goodman, Fish Fry Friday, Washington High School; Colin Gray-Hoehn, Guardian Angel Helmets and Wonder-Waterers, Pilgrim Park Middle School; Shyam Mani, GelTooth Earbuds, Pilgrim Park Middle School; Colin Mittelstaedt, Water Power 2.0, Templeton Middle School; Rita Roloff, In.tu.i.tive, Greendale High School; Brad Scharlau, Wheelchair Safety Stop Device, Cochrane-Fountain City High School; Anna Sipek, The Bind and Find, Pilgrim Park Middle School; and Liz Tripi, Handy Aids, Pilgrim Park Middle School.
The contest is produced by the Wisconsin Technology Council, with major sponsorship from WEA Trust. The WEA Trust is a not-for-profit group health insurer that insures many Wisconsin public school employees. The Wisconsin Health and Educational Facilities Authority is also a sponsor.
Wisconsin YES! partners include Make a Difference Wisconsin, Project Lead the Way Wisconsin, STEM Forward, Wisconsin Association of School Boards, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers.
Modeled after the successful Governor’s Business Plan Contest, Wisconsin YES! is designed to teach students how innovation in science and technology fields can be developed into plausible business plans. It allows students to explore the connections between science, technology and entrepreneurship. Visit http://www.wisconsinyes.com/ to learn more.
;
